Cowlitz Tribe faces one more legal hurdle before opening casino

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Construction is progressing quickly on the Cowlitz Tribe's casino in Washington. Photo from ilani Casino Resort Construction Feed

The Cowlitz Tribe of Washington isn't in the clear yet when it comes to a long-awaited casino.

Most of the tribe's foes dropped out of a lawsuit that sought to prevent the opening of the new ilani Casino Resort. The city of Vancouver, Clark County and, most recently, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, chose to lay down their legal arms.

But a group called Citizens Against Reservation Shopping, non-Indian card rooms and three landowners aren't giving up. They have already asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

“We have believed in the principal of our issue from the very beginning. I haven’t sensed any waiver at all,” a spokesperson for the card rooms told The Longview Daily News.

The petition for a writ of certiorari was filed on October 27, according to the Supreme Court's Docket No. 16-572. It came right before the deadline to appeal a lower court's decision in favor of the tribe's land-into-trust application.

The justices on the nation's highest court accept only a small percentage of petitions that are filed. But since the dispute arises out of their ruling in the Carcieri v. Salazar case, it might draw additional attention.

In Carcieri, the court held that the Bureau of Indian Affairs can only approve land-into-trust applications for tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934. The Cowlitz didn't gain formal recognition until 2000 so casino opponents don't believe they can benefit from the Indian Reorganization Act.

The BIA disagreed, citing treaty negotiations and other federal actions. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the approach in a July 29 decision that was the first of its kind in the post-Carcieri era.

The federal government can file a response to the petition by November 28. As the intervenor in the case, the Cowlitz Tribe would be able to file a response as well.

The tribe plans to open the ilani Casino Resort on April 17, 2017. It will be the closest Indian gaming facility to Portland, Oregon.

Read More on the Story:
Casino opponents appealing case to Supreme Court (The Longview Daily News 11/1) $P D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision:
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon v. Jewell (July 29, 2016)

Department of the Interior Solicitor Opinion:
M-37029: The Meaning of "Under Federal Jurisdiction" for Purposes of the Indian Reorganization Act (March 12, 2014)

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