Indian Gaming > Gun Lake casino foes review land-into-trust options

February 26, 2009

Gun Lake casino foes review land-into-trust options

Opponents of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, are reviewing the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar for potential ways to reopen their failed lawsuits.

Anti-gaming groups say the tribe shouldn't have benefited from the land-into-trust process because the tribe wasn't recognized until 1999. The high court said the Indian Reorganization Actonly applies to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934.

"Gun Lake should not have been allowed to put that land into trust," a spokesperson for 23 is Enough told The Grand Rapids Press. "The question is, Can you reverse that action?"

Opponents tried to raise the 1934 issue in their case against the tribe but the high court refused to accept the case. The Bureau of Indian Affairs acquired 137 acres for the tribe's casino earlier this month.

Get the Story:
Wayland casino opponents review options, but Supreme Court ruling comes after Gun Lake land is put into trust (The Grand Rapids Press 2/25)
Supreme Court ruling may not stop Wayland casino (The Kalamazoo Gazette 2/26)