Law Article: Court deals another blow to land-into-trust process

The Court’s decision, if it stands, would be the third successive blow in recent years to tribes’ ability to acquire land in trust under Section 5 of the IRA. First, the Supreme Court ruled in 2009 in Carcieri that only tribes "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 were eligible to acquire land in trust under the IRA. Second, in 2012, in Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak (Patchak), the Supreme Court held that a private party was not barred by the Quiet Title Act from challenging the Secretary’s decision to take land into trust, provided the challenger was not seeking to establish his or her own title.

It had been widely assumed after Patchak that anyone challenging a secretarial acquisition would need to sue within six years, the limitations period for suit under the federal Administrative Procedure Act. According to the Big Lagoon decision, however, a plaintiff could potentially seek a ruling invalidating a trust acquisition at any time.