Poarch Band battles county on status of trust property

Wednesday, April 18, 2012  

The Poarch Creek Band of Indians says a county in Alabama can't tax its trust lands.

The tribe gained federal recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs process in 1984. But the tribe says it has had a "longstanding relationship with the United States" that goes back much further.

"The Poarch Band of Creeks is an established legal and political successor-in-interest of the larger Creek (Muskogee) Confederacy and has an unquestioned longstanding relationship with the United States dating back centuries,” the tribe said in a statement, The Atmore Advance reported.

Officials in Escambia County are questioning whether the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar affects the tribe. The ruling restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934.

The Poarch Band says evidence shows the tribe was “demonstrably under federal jurisdiction in 1934."

Get the Story:
PCI: County off target (The Atmore Advance 4/18)

Related Stories:
Alabama county cites Carcieri in bid to tax Poarch Creeks (4/16)
Richard Pombo sees 'no chance' to pass land-into-trust fix (03/15)