Winter 2000

judge

Native American Legal Briefs

In early January, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a case about an attempt by the Mashantucket Pequots to extend the boundaries of their reservation. The Federal District Court’s decision was noted in the Summer 1999 edition of this Newsletter (Volume 3, Issue 1). The article appears on the internet at http://www.ptla.org/quinnehtukqut/ct5tribalbriefs.htm

The case involves 165 acres that the Tribe owns across Route 2 from its 2,200-acre reservation and its Foxwoods Resort Casino. The Tribe had asked the Secretary of the Interior to take the land into trust. This would mean that the land would be treated as "Indian Country" outside state civil and criminal jurisdiction, exempt from state and local taxation, and exempt from state and local land use regulation.

In reaching his decision, the District Court judge looked at the language of the Mashantucket’s Settlement Act . He concluded that the Tribe could not expand its settlement lands over the opposition of the State of Connecticut and the neighboring towns without Congressional approval.