CARCIERI V. SALAZAR

It is really the State of Rhode Island verses the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Charlestown, Rhode Island. The Supreme Court ruling was prepared by Justice Clarence Thomas.

The case was brought after the Narragansetts endeavor to put 31 acres in to trust (make part of their reservation). The problem is the United States Supreme Court in a 6 to 1 decision ruled that only federally recognized tribes that had been recognized before 1934 could take land into trust. The case is about the word "now" in the 1934 act. Rhode Island and twenty one (21) other states (friends of the court) claimed "now" meant when the act was enacted in 1934. The Narragansett's response was that "now" meant at the time the land accepted into trust.

Richard Blumenthal, the Attorney General of Connecticut (one of the twenty one states as friends of the court) said, "this huge, historic victory. I am pleased that the U. S. Supreme Court decisively agreed with our argument, ending more that a decade of rancorous wrangling over tribal attempts to take land into trust. Towns bordering the reservations no longer face the fear of massive tax revenue losses caused by tribes taking land into trust."

Jackson T. King, General Counsel of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council said, "this is a very poor decision reversing more than 50 years of practice by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Happily, it's academic for us.........We don''t have any intent to expand......All the land within our settlement area that we own is now in trust. We don't have anything pending , and don't anticipate anything."

The Mohegan response was, "Although the Mohegan Tribe is not affected at all by today's decision, we believe the Supreme Court took an extremely narrow interpretation of the law and their decision is potentially devastating to certain members of Indian country. We are hopeful that the United States Congress will quickly work with the Department of Interior to fix this problem with Legislation."

The Mashantucket Pequots and the Narragansetts received federal recognition in 1983. The Mohegans received federal recognition in 1994.

The Mohegans have only taken into trust about 350 acres, with about almost fifty (50) more in the process of being put into trust. Under the compact between the State of Connecticut and the Mohegan Tribe, the Mohegans can take up to 700 acres into trust without having to negotiate with the State of Connecticut. So they still have about 300 acres to go. The tribe can only take land into trust in the Town of Montville, Connecticut (which is where the Mohegan Reservation is).

Joseph Jaskiewicz, the Mayor of Montville township said that the town's attorneys were reviewing the decision. He remembered how in 2005, the Mohegan Tribe took about 49 acres into trust and that Montville lost about $268,000.00 in land taxes. Jaskiewicz said, "overall, the decision helps towns."

How does this affect Mohegan Tribal business ventures?

The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, is trying to get a one billion dollar ($1,000,000,000.00) casino resort built in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Menominee were recognize prior to 1934. The Interior Department of the United States Government rejected the tribe's plan. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority was to mange the casino for seven (7) years.

The Cowitz Tribe, of Washinton State were federally recognized in 2000. The tribe has filed an application to take 152 acres into trust and build a $510 million ($510,000,000.00) casino complex. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority is to run the facility for the first seven (7) years. Philip Harju, Vice Chairman of the Cowitz Tribe said, " We've just received the decision and have not fully digested it. Speaking of the project he said, "We're confident it's going to happen."

The decision has no affect on Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. It will have no affect on a possible casino in Palmer, Massachusetts, because these are business ventures that the tribe is acting as a business and not a native American tribe. The same would be true for the Mashanatucket Pequots and their venture in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

It looks like the Cowitz deal with the Mohegans might happen. The deal with Menominee doesn't look very promising. It sounds like a bad ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The only solution is to get U.S. Congress to pass a bill to change the law. Congress with twenty one states involved in the suit, will probably be slow to fix this. What do you think?

What about the Eastern Pequots? What about the Shinnecocks? What about other tribes? What about the Mashpee Wampanoags who became federally recognized in 2007 and want to build a casino in Middlebourgh, Massachusetts?

There is speculation that Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum, the Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman, will try and meet with Richard Blumenthal, the Attorney General of Connecticut, to talk about the situation. If this is true, good job Chairman Bozsum. What do you think?