Two Tahlequah-based tribes presented oral arguments Friday in a protracted fight over a land-in-trust application. Over the course of five hours, attorneys for the Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation Entertainment and the Department of the Interior made their cases before Northern District Judge Gregory Frizzell in a hearing that was originally scheduled for February. The UKB has been attempting to place a 2.03-acre parcel of land into trust, which would allow its lone casino to resume operations. Under its constitution, the Cherokee Nation is required to fight attempts from any other tribe to take land into trust within its 14-county jurisdictional area. The Cherokee Nation and its gaming arm, Cherokee Nation Entertainment, maintain both would suffer irreparable harm if the Keetoowah Cherokee Casino at 2450 S. Muskogee Ave., was allowed to reopen after being shuttered for almost 11 months. The tribe argues it would be a blow to its sovereignty, while attorneys for CNE cited its reliance on being the only tribal gaming entity within the Cherokee Nation’s jurisdiction as part of the reason it has built up eight — soon to be nine — casinos over the past 20 years. “Both tribes gamed down the street from each other for years, and the world didn’t end, your honor,” UKB attorney general Christina Vaughn said, prompting chuckles from the dozens of Keetoowah elders in the gallery. “The ‘end of the world’ line is a variation of the same argument,” CNE attorney David Keglovitz said. “They’re just asking for credit for all their years of illegal gaming.” Originally opened as Keetoowah Bingo in 1986, the Keetoowah Cherokee Casino employed 150 people and funded the paychecks of 70 tribal employees. Last summer, Frizzell granted the Cherokee Nation’s requests for a temporary injunction and temporary restraining order to prohibit the property from being taken in trust. Since the land was not in trust by the end of August 2013, the tribe was forced to close its lone casino under the terms of a $2 million settlement reached with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Under the terms of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribes can only conduct gaming on trust property within their own jurisdictions or get permission from the tribe in question if attempting to open a casino within another tribe’s borders. In a July 2012 decision to allow the UKB’s application, then-acting Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Michael Black wrote that the UKB had met the federal requirements for acquiring land into trust, effectively giving the two tribes co-jurisdiction what the 14 northeastern Oklahoma counties that comprise the former Cherokee Reservation and eliminating the need for the Cherokee Nation to approve of the casino. Instead, federal officials maintained, they only need to solicit comments from the larger tribe, which they did. “The 2012 decision ... should be the very definition of arbitrary and capricious, if not the poster child,” attorney David McCullough said on behalf of the Cherokee Nation. The next round of filings for all sides is due Sept. 8. Noting the tight turnaround he was facing at the preliminary injunction level last summer, Frizzell said that while he stands by his previous ruling, there was no guarantee he would make the injunction permanent in light of supplemental information and less of a time crunch. “It appears that the court may adjust some of its conclusions made at the time of the preliminary injunction hearing,” he said. “I appreciate having additional time to look at these issues more closely.”
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 10:37:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015