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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2002

Three Connecticut towns who have been fighting the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation over trust land say they have hope with a recent Supreme Court decision.

Ledyard, North Stonington and Preston filed an amicus brief in the Choctaw Nation / Chickasaw Nation gaming taxation case. The case centered on whether Congress intended to exempt tribes from certain gaming taxes when a federal statute appeared silent on the issue.

The towns say the resolution of the case -- that the canons of Indian law are only guides and can be offset when another principle points in a different way -- helps their fight against trust land. They say wealthy tribes such as the Pequot should not benefit from the canon which allows ambiguous statutes, but not necessarily conflicting, as was the issue in the Chickasaw case, to be interpreted in favor of tribes.

Their brief encourages courts to use the canon only in specific "factual circumstances." Since tribes are now more connected, the towns argue the canon should be put to rest in certain instances.

"It would truly be a perverse twist in logic to construe a law such as [the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act], whose evolution is now influenced by extraordinarily well-financed, ably-represented tribes and Indian organizations, under the same theory that was developed by this Court to protect disadvantaged and under-represented tribes who entered into treaties with the United States," the towns write.

The towns' case is on remand to determine technical aspects of former Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt's decision to take 165 acres of land into trust for the tribe.

Get the Story:
Supreme Court rules act confers no favor on tribes (The Norwich Bulletin 1/23)

Get the Decision Chickasaw Nation v. United States:
Syllabus | Opinion | Dissent

Related Documents:
Argument Transcript [PDF] | Tribal Brief [TXT] | Tribal Brief [PDF] | U.S. Brief [TXT] | U.S. Brief [PDF] | Towns Brief [TXT]

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