The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to hear yet another land dispute involving the Oneida Nation of New York.

Madison County and Oneida County have been at war with the tribe for decades. After partially losing a case involving foreclosure of the tribe's properties, they are now asking the Supreme Court to declare that the reservation has been diminished.

The counties filed their petition last November. The tribe filed a brief in opposition on January 16, according to Docket Sheet No. 12-604.

The counties will be able to file a reply and then the petition will be put to a conference for the justices to consider. The Supreme Court could announce whether it will hear the Madison County v. Oneida Indian Nation, in the coming weeks.

The Supreme Court almost heard the foreclosure dispute but sent it back to the2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2011 after the tribe agreed to waive its sovereign immunity. In October 2011, the 2nd Circuit ruled that the tribe must pay property taxes on land that hasn't been placed into trust.

The 2nd Circuit, however, said the tribe only has to pay taxes after March 29, 2005. That's the day the Supreme Court, in Sherrill v. Oneida Nation, ruled that the tribe must follow the land-into-trust process on property acquired within its ancestral reservation.

At that point, the counties tried to get the 2nd Circuit to take up their claim that the reservation has been diminished. The court refused in August 2012, prompting the latest petition to the Supreme Court.

In the interim, the 2nd Circuit in August 2010 ruled that the tribe filed its land claim against the counties too late. The Supreme Court declined to take up the case in October 2011.

The tribe's land-into-trust application, meanwhile, remains mired in separate litigation.

Get the Story:
U.S. Supreme Court might hear another Oneida Nation case (AP 1/26)

2nd Circuit Decisions:
Oneida Nation v. Madison County (October 20, 2011)
Oneida Nation v. Madison County and Oneida County (April 27, 2010)

Sherrill v. Oneida Nation Supreme Court Decision:
Syllabus | Opinion [Ginsburg] | Concurrence [Souter] | Dissent [Stevens]