New cutoff in land-into-trust litigation is 1983

Law | Trust

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar brought about a cutoff date for land-into-trust applications: 1934, the year the Indian Reorganization Act passed.

Tribes that weren't "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 can't follow the land-into-trust process, according to the decision.

A lawsuit affecting the Oneida Nation of New York could bring about another cutoff: 1983. That's the year the Indian Land Consolidation Act was passed.

The Oneidas apparently acknowledge they aren't covered by the IRA. But they say a provision in ILCA affirms their right to follow the land-into-trust process.

The state of New York believes otherwise. According to The Syracuse Post-Standard, the dispute centers on the placement of a comma in ILCA.

The ILCA provision states that the federal government can acquire lands in trust for any "Indian tribe, band, group, pueblo, or community, for which, or for the members of which, the United States holds lands in trust." The state says the comma after "community" can't save the Oneidas because the government has never held land in trust for the tribe.

Get the Story:
Arguments in Oneida Indian land trust case focus on comma in 1983 federal law (The Syracuse Post-Standard 6/25)
Federal judge weighs legality of trust land for Oneida Indian Nation (The Oneida Dispatch 6/25)