US gov't files for reconsideration of ruling blocking Mashpee casino

In July, US District Judge William G. Young ruled the federal government erred last year when it approved a Mashpee reservation in Taunton, where the tribe plans to build a $1 billion casino.

Young held that the Department of the Interior lacked the authority to acquire land in trust for the tribe because the Mashpee tribe was not federally recognized at the time of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act.

Under federal law, tribes have the right to run casinos on reservations.

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In its motion, the Justice Department contended that Young was mistaken when he equated federal recognition with federal jurisdiction, and asked him to return the matter to the Interior Department for further consideration

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Cedric Cromwell, the Mashpee tribal council chairman, said the tribe “applauds the Justice Department’s decision” to seek reconsideration.

“We’ve been on our land for thousands of years, and all we seek is the right to exist here as a sovereign people,” he said. “It was promised to us soon after the first Pilgrims arrived, and it’s a promise we hope the courts will honor.”

The tribe has halted construction on the casino since Young’s decision.

In its motion, the Justice Department noted that the 1934 law provides three separate definitions of “Indian” that would qualify a tribe for reservation land.

When the Interior Department, after years of review, granted reservation status to the Mashpee lands, it relied on the second definition, which draws no distinction between state and federal reservations.

Young ruled that the tribe did not qualify for reservation status under that definition.

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Now, the Justice Department is asking Young to allow the Interior Department to conduct another review of the Mashpee reservation application, this time focusing on the first definition of Indian

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That definition requires tribes to be “under federal jurisdiction” by 1934, an important distinction because the Mashpee did not gain federal recognition until 2007.

“The court summarily concluded — based on the tribe’s federal recognition in 2007 — that the tribe was not ‘under federal jurisdiction’ in 1934,” the motion stated.

The Interior Department had not addressed that question, which would require “a complex, Indian tribe-specific inquiry,” the Justice Department wrote.

Young’s ruling also stripped away reservation status for the tribe’s 170 acres in Mashpee, its home for centuries.

The Interior Department has not indicated whether it will appeal Young’s decision to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Last week, the tribe asked for permission to become a party to the lawsuit, which a group of Taunton property owners filed to derail the casino. If the tribe becomes a party to the lawsuit, it will be able to appeal Young’s ruling even if the Interior Department drops the matter.