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Pataki, city, foes pleased with Oneida Nation ruling
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Lots of people in New York are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Oneida Nation's treaty rights case on Tuesday.
Gov. George Pataki (R), the city of Sherrill and opponents to the tribe welcomed the 8-1 ruling, which held that the tribe cannot "unilaterally" reassert its sovereignty over its 250,000-acre land claim area. The court said the tribe waited too long to seek tax immunities and other rights associated with Indian lands.
Officials in Sherrill say the Oneida Nation owes about $7,000 a year in property taxes for land within city limits. The tribe could owe up to $1.7 million for other properties, according to tax officials in Oneida and Madison counties, the defendants in the Oneida land claim lawsuit.
Opponents of the tribe hoped the ruling will affect the claim and force the tribe to settle. But others disputed the reach of the decision, while some were still studying its potential impact on the Cayuga Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma. Both tribes have reclaimed property in their land claim area.
Elsewhere in the nation, others are hoping the ruling will help them in battles against tribes too. Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal said it bolsters the state's case in a tax dispute with a tribal member, and an opponent of gambling in Alabama said the Poarch Creek Band's casino is illegal because it is not located on Indian land.
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Justices Refuse to Restore Sovereignty to Land Bought by Indians (The New York Times 3/29)
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Court sides with Sherrill (The Utica Observer-Dispatch 3/30)
Court ruling may have longer-lasting effects (The Utica Observer-Dispatch 3/30)
Justices say tribe must pay taxes on new land
(AP 3/30)
Supreme Court rules in Oneida case (The Syracuse Post-Standard 3/30)
Cayuga, others study effect of decision (The Syracuse Post-Standard 3/30)
Decision On New York Tax Case Could Affect Mashantucket Appeal (The New London Day 3/30)
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Court's Indian land ruling puts Creek's Montgomery gaming hall in question (AP 3/29)
Get the Decision:
Syllabus
|
Opinion
[Ginsburg] |
Concurrence
[Souter] |
Dissent
[Stevens]
Relevant Links:
Oneida Nation -
http://www.oneida-nation.net
NARF-NCAI Tribal Supreme Court Project -
http://doc.narf.org/sc/index.html
Decision in
Oneida Indian Nation v. City of Sherrill:
Majority Opinion |
Van Graafeiland Dissent
Decision in
Cayuga Indian Nation v. Village of Union
Springs:
Decision |
Order (April 23, 2004)
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