A federal judge in New York holds a hearing on Wednesday to discuss challenges to the Oneida Nation's land-into-trust application.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a final environmental impact statement that recommended the acquisition of 13,000 acres for the tribe. Opponents, including two counties and the state, filed a number of lawsuit in hopes of stopping the acquisition.

The Bush administration never made a final decision on the EIS. The Obama administration doesn't appear to have taken any action on it either.

The land is within the tribe's ancestral reservation. But the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 sad the tribe had to go through the land-into-trust process before asserting sovereignty over the properties.

Get the Story:
Hearing set for Oneida Nation land trust challenge (The Syracuse Post-Standard 6/23)

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