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Oneida Nation wins partial court battle

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Saturday, 06 March 2010

Oneida Nation wins partial court battle Friday, March 5, 2010 By CAITLIN TRAYNOR Dispatch Staff Writer ALBANY -- U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn sided with the Oneida Indian Nation on several claims involving the land into trust lawsuit Monday in Albany. The lawsuit -- filed by Oneida County Legislators Michael Hennessy and Chad Davis, Assemblyman David Townsend and two citizen advocacy groups -- against the OIN, Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, sought to block 13,000 acres of land from going into federal trust. Kahn dismissed a claim made by the plaintiffs saying that the DOI violated the 10th Amendment by encroaching on state sovereignty. Three civil rights claims asserting that both the Oneida Indians and non-Indians were discriminated against in the transfer of land were dismissed. The plaintiffs also claimed that Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar failed to adequately assess the environmental impacts of the land transfer. That claim was also dismissed. The legality of OIN’s Turning Stone Casino was also brought into question in the case. Plaintiffs argued that the gaming facility violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Kahn threw out this claim as well. A violation of the separation of powers between the federal branches and between the federal government and the states was also included in the case. Kahn dismissed that claim on the basis that the claims were “exceedingly scattered and vague” and each governmental entity acted within its authority. The case also challenged 18 acres of land — previously a Griffiss Air Force Base annex in Verona — that was taken into federal trust for the tribe from the General Services Administration. Kahn dismissed the claim, ruling the land was federally owned and not currently in use, making it legally available to the DOI. The Interior secretary “simply accepted land into trust in accord with the express mandate of Congress,” Kahn said in his ruling. “It appears that the essence of plaintiffs’ claim is political or jurisdictional, in that they assert a deprivation of ‘local self-governance.’” Kahn also removed Ray Halbritter, the federally recognized leader of the OIN from the list of defendants for the case. Halbritter was previously named the “real party of interest” by the plaintiffs. The judge dismissed him from the case, saying there were no direct allegations against him. Townsend, Hennessy and the Central New York Fair Business Association “were dealt a severe blow,” OIN Spokesman Mark Emery said in press release Thursday. “Hennessy and Townsend touted the merits of their claims in May 2009, when they urged Oneida County legislators to reject the $55 million Oneida County Partnership Plan,” Emery said. “Hennessy and Townsend claimed that the county would fare better in the claims that now have been dismissed. “Although the preferred outcome was a negotiated resolution, Oneida County’s Legislature became convinced it could fare better in the litigation. In the absence of a resolution, the Nation obviously is very pleased with this ruling, as it moves the trust land challenge significantly closer to closure.” Hennessy stressed that Kahn’s decisions are only partial; more claims of the case still need to be decided. “We always knew this was going to end up in the Supreme Court, or should end up in the Supreme Court,” Hennessy said. “It’s not a surprise.” He said the appeals process has already started to try to reverse the rulings, he said. Hennessy called on Oneida County officials to provide more support for the case. “I don’t understand why people are criticizing the efforts being made,” he said, adding that the lawsuit was for the “protection of all taxpayers in Oneida and Madison County.” David Vickers, president of Upstate Citizens for Equality, said he believes Kahn is examining all the arguments submitted by the plaintiffs and throwing out as many as he can based on reasoning and precedent from prior cases. At the end of that process, Vickers said the judge will be left with distinct, unduplicated arguments, on which he will have to make a decision. Vickers said he expects a decision “probably one of these days in the not-so-distant future.” “Justice delayed is justice denied,” he said. “Every day a decision isn’t made adds another day that illegal status quo is allowed to exist.” Madison County Attorney John Campanie said he had not reviewed Kahn’s rulings yet, but said the dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims were no surprise. “I think a key point to make about all of this business of litigation is that some will represent this as an adverse end to the land-into-trust case,” he said. “It’s not anywhere near that. This does not dismiss the case in its entirety, but it does dismiss certain causes of action.” Campanie pointed to the lawsuit between the City of Sherrill and OIN, where Sherrill lost at trial and second court of appeals levels, but won in Supreme Court. “Courts at different levels will agree with some and not others,” Campanie said of rulings. Campanie, who is involved with a lawsuit between Madison County and the OIN, said Kahn’s recent decisions will not “add any other adversity to our position.” http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2010/03/04/news/doc4b9090358d271607028000.txt

 

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