The possibility of a tribal casino in Taunton — the $1 billion First Light Resort and Casino the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe hopes to build would have a significant impact on the state's commercial. Feb 04, 2020 The possibility of a tribal casino in Taunton — the $1 billion First Light Resort and Casino the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe hopes to build would have a significant impact on the state's commercial. Jul 29, 2020 The uncertainty around the status of the tribal casino in Taunton adds to the complexity of a Region C license as well,' Doherty said in a statement to the News Service. She then suggested that the.

By Colin A. Young of State House News Service

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe will get a hearing before a federal judge this week to appeal a 2016 ruling that 321 acres of reservation land in Mashpee and Taunton could not be held in trust for the tribe, which had broken ground on a $1 billion casino in Taunton.

Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said in a tribal newsletter last week that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit will take up the tribe’s appeal at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Boston.

“Through this appeal, the Tribe hopes to uphold the original Record of Decision accepting the Tribe’s land into trust. This appeal concerns the question of whether the Department of the Interior was [authorized to] take the Tribe’s land into trust,” Cromwell said in the notice.

In early 2016, the Obama administration took 321 acres of reservation land in Taunton and Mashpee into trust for the Wampanoag tribe, which was federally-recognized in 2007. The tribe planned to construct its $1 billion First Light Resort and Casino on the land in Taunton.

After a citizen group challenged the land in trust designation, a federal judge’s ruling later in 2016 nullified the Obama administration’s decision and President Donald Trump’s administration last year officially reversed the Obama-era declaration. The tribe appealed the case, Littlefield et al. v. U.S. Department of the Interior, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

At issue is whether the tribe qualifies as “Indian” under the second definition included in the 1934 federal Indian Reorganization Act. That definition applies the term “Indian” for the purposes of the law to “all persons who are descendants of such members who were, on June 1, 1934, residing within the present boundaries of any Indian reservation.”

The plaintiffs challenging the land in trust decision argue that the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe cannot qualify as “Indian” under the IRA, and therefore would not qualify for land in trust status, because the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction in 1934. The tribe argues that saying its members do not qualify for protections under the IRA is ridiculous.

“Appellant is part of the Indian tribe that met with the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving and thereafter suffered hundreds of years of persecution and land theft. It has maintained its tribal identity, community, and culture,” lawyers for the tribe wrote in a recent brief. “A conclusion that Appellant is not ‘Indian’ is too absurd and darkly ironic even for Franz Kafka and antithetical to the IRA’s ambitious mission. Such a ruling would place yet another black mark in the long ledger of the United States’ history of failing to treat this Indian Tribe fairly and honorably.”

Cromwell said the court is not expected to make a decision at Wednesday’s hearing, which will consist of 15 minutes of arguments from each side, but “will likely do so within the next several months.”

Taunton Casino Status

A further ruling in the case could help break up a bit of a logjam in the state’s gaming policy. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has been considering whether to solicit proposals for the state’s third resort casino license, which would be required to go to a project in either Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes or Nantucket county, and has kept a close eye on the status of the tribe’s effort.

In 2016, when it appeared a tribal casino in Taunton was likely, regulators rejected a proposal for a commercial casino in Brockton. Since then, the commission has fended off repeated requests from gambling giant Rush Street Gaming to reconsider its rejected 2016 proposal.

The possibility of a tribal casino in Taunton — the $1 billion First Light Resort and Casino the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe hopes to build would have a significant impact on the state’s commercial casino industry — is a major consideration for regulators as they seek public and industry comments on what the commission should take into account if it moves forward with a southeastern Massachusetts casino bid.

One concern, as expressed by local officials and others, is that commercial casino operators might not be willing to invest the minimum $500 million in a project that could have to compete with a nearby tribal casino. If the Gaming Commission opts to go ahead with licensing a commercial casino in Region C and the tribe is allowed to open its own casino under federal law, Massachusetts would receive no tax revenue from the tribal casino.

Though the hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit could be a meaningful step forward in the tribe’s quest, it will not necessarily end the legal wrangling over the tribe’s land. There’s also a case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe v. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt — in which the tribe argues that the interior secretary failed to properly consider extensive factual evidence it submitted to make the case that it should be eligible for land in trust.

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As the tribe works to secure its land in trust through the courts, U.S. Rep. William Keating, who represents Taunton and Mashpee, has pushed legislation that would use the power of Congress to reaffirm the 2015 decision by the Interior Department to take land into trust for the tribe, though Trump has opposed it.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 275-146 in May to approve that bill, titled the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, and it has not moved since being referred to the U.S. Senate that same month.

[toc]Tribal gaming is always complex. What is unfolding in the southeastern part of Massachusetts is convoluted even by tribal gaming standards though.

After losing in court, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe asked the Department of Interior (DOI) to review its land in trust application on different grounds. However, the day before the decision was expected to be handed down, the tribe withdrew the request.

Everything seemed pretty cut and dry… until the DOI decided to deny the tribe’s request to withdraw its request.

The reason this case is so interesting is that a proposed billion-dollar tribal casino in Massachusetts hangs in the balance. Genting will bankroll the First Light Casino project, while Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts will run the property. The casino project ran into legal issues after a group of local residents effectively argued the DOI’s decision to put the tribe’s land in trust was faulty.

DOI still wants to review Mashpee Wampanoag’s status

When the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe withdrew its DOI request, it seemed like the tribe’s dreams of building a tribal casino in Taunton, Massachusetts were over.

By all accounts the tribe withdrew its review request because it expected the DOI to reject its claim that it was under federal jurisdiction in 1934. Plus, internal communications with the DOI affirmedthese beliefs.

According to the Taunton Gazette, a draft emailed to Mashpee Chairman Cedric Cromwell on June 19 by Interior Department Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason painted a bleak picture.

“Evidence submitted by the Tribe on remand provides insufficient indicia (indications) of federal jurisdiction,” Cason wrote.

Cason went on to say that the tribe hasn’t adequately proven it was under federal jurisdiction in 1934. As a result he “therefore cannot grant the Tribe’s land-into-trust application under either of those definitions.”

But just three days after the tribe asked to withdraw its request, Cason sent another email to the tribe. That email declined its request to suspend the review. Suddenly the tribal casino had a second lease on life.

As Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. told the Taunton Gazette “It appears the DOI wants to see them (the tribe) succeed in their quest. They haven’t said no, which leads me to believe there is hope.”

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Maine plays a surprising role in the case

According to the Taunton Gazette, Cason asked both sides for supplemental information. Parties need to supply the supplemental information by August 31.Cason then plans to rule on the case by October 30.

In his email, Cason writes that he wants to look at “complex issues” and the “unique historical relationship” not yet explored in this increasingly extraordinary case.

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What Cason is looking at is early 19th-century geography. More specifically, he is looking at Maine’s status in 1820 before it became a state. Prior to 1820, Maine was a district of Massachusetts. That’s where the Mashpee’s land in trust claim gets really convoluted… as if it wasn’t already.

Taunton Casino Status Refund

As the Taunton Gazette summarized it:

Cason said he needs to consider whether the exercise of authority over the tribe by the commonwealth “could be considered a surrogate for federal jurisdiction” in context of the Indian Reorganization Act’s definition of “Indian.”

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“It’s their only chance, and it will be denied,” attorney David Tenant told the Gazette.

Tenant is representing the group of Taunton residents who took the tribe to court and successfully blocked the casino. Tenant later called Cason’s new approach “a novel, unprecedented and absurd motion.” He also threatened swift legal action if the DOI rules the tribe’s land can be placed in trust on those grounds.