Carcieri v. Salazar – Supreme Court Rules on Land into Trust Policy

Last Tuesday the Supreme Court handed down a ruling stating that tribes not under federal jurisdiction as of 1934 cannot follow a longstanding land into trust process administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The ruling comes from a suit involving the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.

The state of Rhode Island did not want the Narragansett Tribe, recognized in 1983, to be able to utilize 31 acres of land placed into trust by the interior. The tribe said it wanted to use the land to create a housing development, but state officials expressed concern that it could pursue a casino in the future.

The state originally sued the interior to try to get a court to find that the department had no legal authority to place land into trust because the tribe wasn’t recognized in 1934, but a federal judge and the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled favoring the tribe.

The case then went to the Supreme Court, where in a 6-3 vote, it was ruled that the Interior Department cannot acquire land for the tribe because it didn’t gain federal recognition until 1983.

“Because the record in this case establishes that the Narragansett Tribe was not under federal jurisdiction when the IRA was enacted, the secretary does not have the authority to take the parcel at issue into trust,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s majority opinion.

The ruling was not really a surprise to the Indian nation. Tribal lawyers have stated that the addition of more conservative members to the Supreme Court in recent years has resulted in the clamping down on tribal rights.

Some legal experts are suggesting that tribes wishing to reverse this decision could go to Congress to request a technical amendment to the IRA to remove the phrase ‘now under federal jurisdiction.’ The phrase is what basically allowed the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the state.

Others have also suggested that Congress could pass legislation on an individual basis to allow particular tribes to place land into trust.

The decision should not have an effect on our local tribe’s pursuit to place 6.9 acres into trust as they have been federally recognized since 1901…. 33 years before the IRA.

The Supreme Court Ruling can be found here: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-526.pdf

Source:
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/40382212.html