Belanger v. Parish — Complaint re GTB Trust Land Decision

Belanger v. Parish Complaint
Exhibit Property Location Drawing

ICT Editorial on Fee to Trust Statute

From ICT:
The federal government’s recent actions involving its authority to make decisions on acquiring land in trust for tribal gaming purposes may inadvertently threaten the authority and duty of the secretary of the Interior Department to take land into trust for Indian tribes.
On April 29, the D.C. Circuit decided an innocuous case involving the secretary [...]

GTB News Coverage on Indianz

From Indianz:
An attorney for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians says a lawsuit challenging the Michigan tribe’s land-into-trust lawsuit is “fruitless.”
The tribe wants about 22 acres placed in trust. A group of property owners, however, claims the land belongs to them. Tribal attorney William Rastetter said the plaintiffs [...]

Government Sued Over Grand Traverse Trail Trust Land Decision in Peshawbestown

From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:
PESHAWBESTOWN — A group of local waterfront property owners are fighting a recent decision to place a former railroad corridor into federal trust status for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
A public notice last month in Leelanau County prompted six land owners along Suttons Bay to file a [...]

News Coverage of MichGo v. Kempthorne Case: Cert Petition Planned

I spoke to the author of this news article yesterday. He quotes me as making yet another prediction on whether the Court will grant cert as being “zero,” but what I thought I said was that MichGo’s chances of getting a stay is close to zero. I did say that I think a plausible Section [...]

Analysis of Judge Rogers’ Dissent in MichGo v. Kempthorne

Yesterday’s per curiam opinion in MichGo v. Kempthorne, while very, very important to the Gun Lake Band and other Michigan tribes, did not break any new ground. It was the third time in recent years that citizens groups challenged the Secretary of Interior’s decision to take land into trust for gaming purposes for the three [...]

D.C. Circuit Affirms Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish (Gun Lake) Band’s Trust Land Decision

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held the Department of the Interior’s decision to place land into trust for the benefit of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians near Bradley, Michigan did not violate the National Environmental Protection Act nor did Section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority.
michgo-v-kempthorne
gun-lake-band-brief
Other [...]

News Coverage of BMIC/Sault Tribe Off-Rez Gaming Bills

From the Detroit Free Press:
WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee is set to work on a couple of bills on Wednesday that would allow for two new Indian casinos in Michigan - even though another committee has already approved them.
It could set up an interesting jurisdictional question for the House.
A couple months ago, the Natural [...]

“Reservations Rebuffed” — Article on Off Rez Gaming Policy

From CQ Politics:
Tribal casinos, which have bulked into a multibillion-dollar industry since Congress first gave them its blessing two decades ago, now possess all sorts of economic and political clout — but not enough, it seems, for them to go off the reservation.
American Indians marooned on reservations far from population centers have long pressed the [...]

House Judiciary Committee Hearing re: BMIC & Sault Tribe Bills — Witness List and Testimony

From the House Judiciary Committee website:
The Honorable Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
U.S. House of Representatives
Michigan, 13th District
Chief Fred Cantu
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan