County of Amador v. USDOI, No. 15-17253 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseA tribe qualifies to have land taken into trust for its benefit under 25 U.S.C. 5108 of the Indian Reorganization Act if it (1) was "under Federal jurisdiction" as of June 18, 1934, and (2) is "recognized" at the time the decision is made to take land into trust. The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Interior and the Ione Band of Miwok Indians in a case involving a dispute over a proposed casino in the County. The panel held that the Interior's reading of the ambiguous phrase "under Federal jurisdiction" was the best interpretation and the Interior did not err in adopting that interpretation for purposes of deciding whether the Ione Band was "under Federal jurisdiction" as of 1934. Finally, the Interior did not err in allowing the Band to conduct gaming operations on the Plymouth Parcels under the "restored tribe" exception of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), 25 U.S.C. 2719(a).
Court Description: Tribal Issues. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Ione Band of Miwok Indians in a case involving a proposed casino in Amador County, California, and the County’s challenge to a Department of the Interior 2012 record of decision in which the agency announced its intention to take land into trust – the Plymouth Parcels – for the benefit of the Ione Band, and to allow the Ione Band to build a casino complex on the land. In Carcieri v. Salazar, 555 U.S. 379, 395 (2009), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a tribe must have been “under Federal jurisdiction” at the time the Indian Reorganization Act (“IRA”) was enacted in 1934 in order to qualify to have lands taken into trust for its benefit. The panel held that a tribe qualifies to have land taken into trust for its benefit under 25 U.S.C. § 5108 of the IRA if COUNTY OF AMADOR V. USDOI 3 it was “under Federal jurisdiction” as of June 18, 1934, and is “recognized” at the time the decision was made to take land into trust. The panel also held that the Department of the Interior did not err in determining that the Ione Band was “under Federal jurisdiction” at the time that the IRA became law in 1934. Finally, the panel held that Department of the Interior did not err in allowing the Ione Band to conduct gaming operations on the Plymouth Parcels under the “restored tribe” exception of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The panel held that the agency’s decision to grandfather in the Ione Band under 25 C.F.R. § 292.26(b) was permissible.
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