“We're asking the court to unwind all the steps that were taken by the federal officials to change the status of the trust land in Elk Grove. And those steps include transferring the declared trust land back to the authorities, jurisdiction of the city of Elk Grove and the state of California,” said Cheryl Schmit, director of Stand Up for California! -the watchdog casino group.
Elk Grove residents Joe Teixeira, Patty Johnson and Lynn Wheat, and the Stand Up organization 10 filed an amendment of their federal complaint against the U.S. Department of Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Michael Black, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The group claims that then-acting Assistant Secretary Lawrence Roberts did not have the authority to issue the Jan. 19 record of decision for the tribe. And the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration to that effect, and an official statement that the decision is legally invalid.