A lawsuit was filed in federal court to stop the Cowlitz Tribe of Washington from opening a casino.
The plaintiffs are Clark County, the city of Vancouver, two property owners, an anti-gaming group and four non-Indian card clubs. They say the Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to consider the environmental impacts of the proposed Cowlitz Casino Resort and ignored the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. The BIA's record of decision stated that the Cowlitz were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 -- a key issue in the Supreme Court case -- even though the tribe didn't gain formal federal recognition until 2000. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The same court is hearing similar lawsuit involving a Michigan tribe whose federal recognition wasn't finalized until 1998. Any appeals would go to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reinstated the Michigan land-into-trust lawsuit last month. Get the Story: