Club One Casino, Inc., dba Club One Casino, et al. v. Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, et al.
AdministrativeLaw Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Does the Indian Reorganization Act unilaterally transfer state jurisdiction to the federal government and tribes?
QUESTIONS PRESENTED A Nevada gambling corporation donated a parcel of private California land to the United States to hold in trust for an Indian tribe for an off-reservation gambling casino to be run by the tribe and the private gambling corporation. Over four million California voters, a 60 percent majority, rejected a casino on this parcel, a parcel which had never been Indian owned or governed. The State of California never consented to relinquishing its jurisdiction over the parcel. Nonetheless, the Ninth Circuit held that tribal jurisdiction over the land, required by The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. § 2710, was automatically created: “[A]s a matter of law, the federal government confers tribal jurisdiction over lands it acquires in trust for the benefit of tribes” (including by private donation) even absent State jurisdictional consent or cession. The questions presented by this petition relate to fundamental questions of State sovereignty over State lands: 1. Does the Indian Reorganization Act, 25 U.S.C. § 5108, by authorizing the Secretary of the Interior “in his discretion” to acquire lands “for the purpose of providing land for Indians,” silently operate, by virtue of a simple transfer of title, to divest States of their inherent and exclusive jurisdiction over such acquired lands and transfer it, without State cession or consent, to a tribe? ii QUESTIONS PRESENTED — Continued 2. Ifthe Indian Reorganization Act, 25 U.S.C. § 5108, is read to unilaterally transfer State jurisdiction to the federal government and tribes, did Congress have the power to do so under the Indian Commerce clause, art. I, § 8 of the Constitution, notwithstanding other constitutional provisions limiting federal usurpation of State lands, e.g., art. IV, § 3 (no involuntary reduction or combination of a State’s territory), art. I, § 8, cl. 17 (requiring State consent to federal enclaves), and the Tenth Amendment (reserving to the States powers not expressly delegated to Congress)?