Members of the Shinnecock Nation of New York held a ceremony outside a federal court on Wednesday to mark the filing of their billion-dollar land claim.

Naming the state of New York, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and others as defendants, the tribe is seeking damages for 3,600 acres in the Long Island town of Southampton. The lawsuit says the land was wrongly taken in a fraudulent transaction in 1859 [PDF].

The tribe is state recognized and is seeking federal recognition. Typically, the courts have declined to rule on land claims until federal recogntiion is resolved. The tribe's application is on the "ready" list at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The tribe hopes to build a casino after receiving recognition. Its backer in the land claim and casino is Gateway Funding Associates, a company owned by Marian Ilitch, whose family owns he Motor City Casino in Detroit, and Michael Malik, a Detroit real estate developer who had invested in the Motor City Casino.

Get the Story:
Shinnecocks launch legal claim to Hamptons land (Newsday 6/16)
Lawsuit backers invest in casinos (Newsday 6/16)
Tribe tees up suit for rich Hamptons land (New York Daily News 6/16)
Tribal leaders file claim to land on Long Island (AP 6/16)

Relevant Links:
Shinnecock Nation - http://www.shinnecocknation.com

Related Stories:
Shinnecock Nation runs ads in support of land claim (6/15)
Shinnecock Nation cites fraud in theft of land (6/14)
Shinnecock Nation to file billion-dollar land claim (6/13)
Shinnecock Nation lays claim to bones of 60-foot whale (04/06)
Ties between Shinnecock Nation, golf club tested (06/11)
BIA doesn't want judge to rule on Shinnecock Nation (04/27)
Editorial: Shinnecock Nation deserves an answer (04/02)
House panel sympathetic to tribes on recognition (04/01)
Hearing used to air complaints about tribal recognition (04/01)
Federal recognition process subject of two hearings (03/31)
Judge to have 'final word' on Shinnecock recognition (01/28)
Shinnecock Nation case tests legal waters (1/26)
Shinnecock leaders compare opposition to genocide (1/22)
BIA wants Shinnecocks to wait a decade for status (12/18)
N.Y. opinion affirmed Shinnecock Nation sovereignty (09/19)
Decision awaited in Shinnecock casino case (08/06)