Mashpee Wampanoag chair says fix not needed for casino site

Thursday, November 29, 2012  

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts doesn't need a fix to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar to open a casino, Chairman Cedric Cromwell said.

The decision restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" as of 1934. The Mashpees didn't gain federal recognition until May 2007 but Cromwell said that may not matter.

"While we don't need a fix in order to have land taken into trust, a resolution to the uncertainty caused by the Carcieri decision would certainly be welcome and would likely spur economic development and job creation throughout Indian country," Cromwell told The Cape Cod Times in a statement.

The tribe submitted its land-into-trust application in August 2007, long before the ruling came down. But the Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't make a decision and the tribe has changed casino sites twice since then.

The Senate was due to take up S.676, a Carcieri fix, this week but Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada), the majority leader, said the bill is still being worked on.

"It's just a delay," Emily Deimel, a spokesperson for the Senate Indian Affairs Committee told the Times. "We expect it to be considered in this session."

Get the Story:
No law 'fix' yet for Wampanoag tribe (The Cape Cod Times 11/29)

Sen. Reid cites continuing negotiations for a land-into-trust fix (11/27)