Whether the Indian Commerce Clause permits states to regulate internet-based loans originated by tribal lenders on an Indian reservation when the borrowers are located off-reservation

No question identified. : APPLICATION To the Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Fourth Circuit: Pursuant to Rule 13.5 of the Rules of this Court and 28 U.S.C. § 2101(0), Applicant Matt Martorello respectfully requests a 60-day extension of time, to and including January 9, 2026, within which to file a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in this case. 1. The Fourth Circuit issued its judgment on July 16, 2025 (Exhibit A), and denied a timely petition for rehearing on August 12, 2025 (Exhibit B). Unless extended, the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari will expire on November 10, 2024. This application is being filed more than ten days before a petition is currently due. See Sup. Ct. R. 13.5. The jurisdiction of this Court would be invoked under 28 U.S.C. § 1254(1). 2. This case presents two important questions that have divided the circuits and are worthy of this Court’s review. The first is whether, under the Indian Commerce Clause, states can regulate loans made by a tribal lender on an Indian reservation that are contracted via the internet. The second is whether scienter is required to impose civil liability for violating the unlawful debt prohibition of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). 3. In this case, a class of Virginia borrowers challenged the legality of “payday loans” they obtained from Big Picture Loans, LLC (“Big Picture”) and Red Rock Tribal Lending, LLC (“Red Rock”), arms of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (“the Tribe”) by applying via the internet. Mr. Martorello had assisted the Tribe in establishing and operating Red Rock, a lending business that preceded Big Picture. The loans were made by Big Picture and Red Rock on the Tribe’s reservation in Michigan and comply with Tribal law and federal law. 4. The borrowers’ theory was that the loans are unlawful under a Virginia civil usury statute, thereby making them “unlawful debt” under RICO and creating a RICO offense. The Fourth Circuit ruled that Virginia law governs the loans and that Mr. Martorello violated RICO through his actions, regardless of whether he knew that the loans were unlawful. It affirmed a $43 million treble damages judgment against him. A. The Indian Commerce Clause Issue 5. Whether the tribal lending operation was an unlawful RICO enterprise or, instead, a legitimate economic development project by the Tribe, depends on whether the loans Big Picture and Red Rock made are governed by state or by tribal law.! 1The Fourth Circuit previously rejected the borrowers’ contention that Big Picture and Red Rock were formed “for the real purpose of helping Mr. Martorello... to avoid liability, rather than to help the Tribe start a business.” Williams v. Big Picture Loans, LLC ‘Williams I’), 929 F.3d 170, 178 (4th Cir. 2019). 6. The Second Circuit opined in 2014 — in a case involving the Tribe — that loans a tribal lender makes on an Indian reservation to internet borrowers located off-reservation “could be regarded as on-reservation, based on the extent to which one side of the transaction is firmly rooted on the reservation.” Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians v. N.Y. State Dep't of Fin. Servs., 769 F.3d 105, 115 (2d Cir. 2014). If the tribal lender was firmly rooted on the reservation, an analysis of the respective federal, tribal, and state interests, pursuant to White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 448 U.S. 136 (1980), would determine whether the state could regulate the loans. See Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, 769 F.3d at 114. 7. Mr. Martorello argued that Big Picture and Red Rock are firmly rooted on the Tribe’s reservation and that, under Bracker, the federal and tribal interests in preserving Indian sovereignty and promoting tribal self-sufficiency and economic development outweighed Virginia’s interest in