Supreme Court ruling may torpedo tribe's casino plans

“If this decision is not overturned by the Congress, the Mashpee project cannot go forward, there cannot be a casino there." - Dennis Whittlesey, a Washington-based attorney who helped negotiate the multimillion-dollar agreement between the Mashpee and the town of Middleboro

Boo-hoo... poor Dennis.

OMG. Imagine the states having the right to control what is and is not built there.

What a great day for the states !!

Good.

Since Deval Patrick and other Democrats are so adamant that casino gambling come to Massachusetts, they would probably welcome the Mohegan tribe. Oh wait, they aren't one of the hand picked Deval tribes. Tisk tisk. Equal opportunity for all or just the tribes that bribe our politicians?

By the way, from what I understand, the Mohegan tribe is one of the few tribes in the country who do not have organized crime ties and run a clean and honorable operation. Which is probably why they are not high on the list of tribes to do business with in Massachusetts.

Wasn’t it the Mashpee Wampanoag that helped the starving English folk who landed on a rock near the Cape some time in the late 1600's? Way too go Fed, screw the Indians some more.... I don’t want a casino in Mass, but the least we could do is treat the Wampanoag with dignity and honor our treaties… I forgot that isn’t the least we can do… proud day…

No Casino For You......

If none of the states want this, I doubt a letter from Cedric Cromwell will do anything. It isn't in the states interest to promote a huge non tax generating beast in a recession.

I thnk this nail will do the trick. Can someone please get the shovel.

You know it is not going to be good when Thomas is writing.
Good luck with Congress.

I have nothing against the indian tribes building casinos on their land. What I have problem with is their being given a virtual monopoly on casino style gambling. Here in California, it seems we now have as many casinos as Nevada and the tribes have a monopoly. I was taught in high school that monopolies were bad except where it served the best interest of the public. The classic example being utilities, although even that idea has become somewhat passe. Since when does the indian tribes having a monopoly on casino gambling serve the pulics' interest?

Can someone please explain to me why we allow the tribes to be "sovereign"? I don't get to be "sovereign". This is becoming absolutely ridiculous. A casino should only be built if the state allows gambling.

Yea, just another case of the white man screwing the red man. Granted it is the white man trying to stop the red man from screwing them.

Here it is simple, make gambling legal and then give land to the tribes who want them...

Why don't we just give all the land back to the Indians, so they can set up inter-linked Casinos at every entrance and exit ramp on all inter-states? Oh, and by the way, throw out all the anti-tobacco and booze laws so these folks can sell it all tax free. Of course if that happens, nothing will get done in the nation, and instead of going to the Indians, we will just go to the Dogs! And our cowardly pols, bought and sold by tribal lobbies, will cave in to the above, and sell the nation down the river. Just watch!

Why does it seem the Globe takes great joy in the elimination of Casinos in Massachusetts? Moneys is spent i.e. voluntary taxation in Connecticut and Rhode Isalnd EVERY DAY! People aren't just gambling. They are eating, satying the night, filling their gas tanks and perhaps just went to see a show. These Massachusetts residents are contributing the tax base in another jurisdiction. People don't need or want a moral compass. Give it a break and wake up!

This is wonderful news! ;) Our state is a great state, with a lot of history, great colleges/universities, and relatively speaking, a great place to live. We don't need a casino here.

Now, we just need Gov Deval Patrick to be out. So much for his gas tax + toll pike plans. He said it's one or the other (especially since the gas tax will be one of the highest in the nation), but it looks like we may get sacked with both.

The LAST thing my family wants is a casino in this area. I am so thrilled that this decision was made. PLEASE write to your congressmen to convey to them your feelings on more casinos. They need to hear from us!

These "Indian" casinos are a joke!! Merely a way for people with the slightest trace of Native American heritage to take advantage of various laws and loopholes to create casinos… and then to avoid paying normal taxes because they have this Native American designation/classification.

A lot of the various laws and provisions surrounding the Native American tribes were originally intended to provide an opportunity for those that needed a helping hand. Not for some college-educated, middle-aged business men who realize they have a trace bloodline and can now have this new "tribe" recognized by the US government purely for the purposes of parlaying (pun intended) this into the creation of a casino. Their scant Native American heritage is being used purely for financial gain and nothing else. It allows them to go into the casino business and to not pay taxes like the majority of businesses being run in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, etc. (cont'd)

Maybe the Indian Tribes should look into Wind & Solar Farms depending on their geographical location. Having worked in the Middleboro Area for many years, It seems to be a windier than many other regions, & seems that it would be a perfect place to build wind farms and they can get into the Renewable Energy Business themselves instead of the usual polarizing Gambling Business. This may also offer an alternative to theCape Wind Project that many area residents are opposed to. I hope that the Indian Tribes of the Dakotas are lstening, as they should get a head start on this, especially where the Dakotas are already recognized as a vital piece for the proposed "Wind Alley"

How can the Congress change this. Does the Constitution matter in MA?

Its a crime that they were recognized as a tribe in the first place. As a former Mashpee resident, I can assure you that they are no more indian than I am...

A strange twist to a miserable history.. The country should not compensate its wrongs by allowing their victims to promote social disasters that stem from gambling. Native descendents deserve assistance in building their careers within a modern society but do not deserve any help with enterprises that aim to maintain them as separate peoples with special privileges.

ringleader1, the answer to your question is simple. At some time in the past, the United States signed a treaty recognizing the sovereignity of the tribe as part of an agreement they made to give up their claims to land somebody wanted.

To everyone else..this isn't the last step by far. All the Supreme Court can do is say that law already passed by Congress doesn't allow the government to take land into trust for a tribe if the tribe wasn't recognized as a still existing tribe in 1934. Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 and they can pass a new law now that would allow this. But unless the law is passed, the government can't take the land in trust and the tribe can't build a casino.

this decision cannot be simply overturned by Congress,,,it is the law of the land.

The idea of getting recognition, and land, for the sole purpose of putting up a casino does not sit well with me. If congress acts, then they should place the land into trust with the condition that it is NOT used for gambling. If they still want the land, then give it to them. I'm by no means anti-gambling, but this is an abuse of a legitimate process for tribes that want sovereignty for legit reasons.

No Indian casino..........good.

We're bailing out deadbeats that took on too much risk. We live in a country that allows people to be irresponsible and expect a hand out. Until we begin to allow people to deal with their own self created hardships we should not allow casinos. Do casinos give you a do over if you lose? No, right, well our government does and the thousands and thousands of losers from these casinos will be front in center with their hands out from other responsible taxpayers, and do you know what they'll do, they'll run right back to the casinos and flush our wealth righ t down the toilet again. That's the casino industry's business model, and any politician that supports this is corrupt.

The long nightmare is over. NO CASINO

This restores my faith in America. It is great to know we have a system that can correct an injustice imposed by a crooked town government who told us we have no choice but to accept an agreement imposed on us by a now known criminal "Glenn Marshal " who bought federal tribe recognition, only to create a casino. For all who were not present at our special rushed town meeting. We were told by our selectmen to accept the agreement for the casino and get the agreed upon payoff or reject it and get a casino anyway with no payoff "it is the tribes right to have a casino", well I guess they were wrong!!!!

For a while, I thought I was reading some passages from the early 1900’s. The debauched residents of this state should be ashamed of themselves. Massachusetts' citizens revel in their liberal democratic ideals, but deep within the fissures of this “commonwealth” are peoples selfishness, self loathing and ignorance that is tearing this state apart.

The road to be a federally recognized Native Nation is long and arduous. The process takes years to organize, let alone complete. Nations must prove lineages, habitation of the same land for a certain number of years and must prove that a significant number of its members are indeed “still here.” The First Nation’s people never left. Let me repeat that, First Nation’s people never left. They are not people of the past and the atrocities that they face are not set hundreds of years ago. Many of the “Indian Boarding Schools” were only shut down in the 1960’s/70’s and the abuse that first nation’s children endured was unfathomable. The United States Government, the very body that American’s run to when personal freedoms and inherent rights are denied, just committed an undeniably grievous act of hypocrisy. They are denying the inherent rights to those who have inhabited this land before any law was ever drafted.

Why then, are people so hostile to First Nations people? OK Middleboro, so you don’t want a casino in your town. Fine. The Lakota don’t want mines in their sacred lands; the Hawaiians didn’t want the H-3 over a burial site…but its all for progress right?

As a First Nation’s individual I have high hopes for this country, I have high hopes for this state. But the hope will quickly diminish if the ignorance, and yes it is racism and ignorance, doesn’t stop. As it is seen in this very article, the laws enacted “in the past” are still effecting Native Nation’s today. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a deer outside my window. I better go hunt and gather before it gets away…I live in an apartment in the city by the way.

Instead of a casino, we should build gas stations in Middleboro that charge $3.50/gallon in gas taxes. You people can't possibly be this stupid.

The people of MA will drive to CT or RI to gamble if they are inclined to do so, and instead of the kickbacks from the casinos going to MA, they will go to CT or RI and the people of MA can pay higher gas taxes AND higher tolls. If you think for a second you are going to get one or the other, guess again! Not under Devil Patrick!

Hey Devolve... Here's thought; Maybe you should impose a tax on all money spent at the casinos by a MA resident!

California has 58 Indain run casinos, 11 shy of the 69 csainos in Las vegas. California is also $7 billion in the hole and slated to lay off 20,000 workers. MA residents going to CT or RI to gamble is not the issue. Building casinos in MA is not the issue. 440 Turnpike employees making over $100K a year is the problem. We need to change how our state and local governments use the hard earned money we fork over in taxes, rather than finding a way to milk more money out of the residents of this state by building casinos that just move money from one area of the economy to another. It will not add anything in the long run.

We need to get rid of the jobs for friends at $120K a year, tell the unions to suck it up and pay their share like the rest of us, and get the state and local governments to balance their budgets based on the money they have like most hard working people have to do every day.

That argument of "the money is going south to CT" always makes me laugh. Let me guess...you also recite the opinions you hear on talk radio and pretend they're your own. I would be more impressed if you actually did some research and provided facts to support your very witty comments ("Devolve" <- seriously? that's the best you have? oh wait...that's right...you heard it on the radio. Go you.)

The reality is our state is broke and money needs to come from somewhere to make sure there is a warm body at the end of the 911 line and teacher standing at the front of our classrooms. If you think the only two ways to recover are either a gas tax or a casino then I feel bad for you. It is much more complex than that and casinos have a much greater secondary cost per capita to the community than the gas tax (think increase DUI, insane jump in 911 calls, decrease in local shopping, etc.). You should spend more time researching facts and reading some of the other comments here (like #30) and less time being dumb.

I look forward to hearing your response...I'm sure it will be brilliant.

I can't believe people commented on the stupid casino or taxes after reading NDNMAN's post.....most of the commentors here have COMPLETELY missed the actual, HUMAN, implications this ruling and all others like it, including the 1934 "Indian Reorganization" Act have.
We "Americans" seem to only remember our founding of this nation as a sanctuary for OUR people, without recognizing that we did not belong here, in this place we ACCIDENTALLY found while seeking a place to make OUR stand. Our textbooks teach us that we "discovered" a "New World" and brought "civilization" and a "government for the people". For OUR people, we created the lives we wanted to live, FREELY. We were taught that "all men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights", per our Declaration of Independence. In this same article, we "assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle" our people to dissolve political bonds with our oppressors. We preached "no taxation without REPRESENTATION". We are all for independence and sovereignty. As long as it is ours..
Before we settled this land there were those who cherised it, belonged to IT, not the other way around as we do, regarding the land as a material possession. And soon WE thought we had an inherent RIGHT to it, that this land belonged to US. We created laws, entitling us to OUR land, and other laws to protect OUR interest in it. Our "great", "free" nation was founded on a glorfied game of Finder's, Keeper's. We committed UNSPEAKABLE(not a dramatization because we have always ensured ignorance on the subject, and literally do not speak of it to teach it in schools) atrocities to those we ousted from the land we magically gave ourselves the right to...
When we were not satisfied with the little bit of land we had "colonized", we stole more and more. And still more. Because we claimed ALL the land for ourselves and made laws to ensure it stayed ours, we now operate under the unbelievably cruel notion that those we ousted ought to PROVE themselves as "deserving" enough to receive small parcels of land we entrust to them. Not all nations that want to be recognized as First Nations are looking for land to build casinos on, they wish to be REPRESENTED, just like we did. They want a claim to the land that they respect and honor. And they should not have to fight for this... !!!

NDNMAN is also right that Massachusetts (which is NOT too proud to concede itself as a native namesake) is supposedly a COMMONwalth, with supposed open mindedness and liberalism. Here's a liberal idea...walk your ignorant asses to a friggen library or halfway decent bookstore and educate yourselves, not on the laws and loopholes of government, but on HUMANITY and RESPECT and HONOR and CHARITY and any other virtue that YOU clearly lack, that NATIVE NATIONS are helping to empower. We founded this nation to "secure the Blessings of LIberty to ourselves and our posterity", but look at what we've made of the land that was once held majesty and wonder, possibilities and true freedom..The disasters our "civilization" has brought to this land is hardly ensuring any BLESSINGS to our posterity. It is native nations who are concerned with enstilling for future generations the way of life they deserve, and ensuring that this land remains great and can once again hold grandeur and grace, where today we have established only cold hearts and greed. Everyone should seriously consider getting involved with the native nations, 'cause the way I see it is they're the best example to follow if anyone's intersted in fighting for what IS inherent and right for all of us--a prosperous, blissful, equal, and symbiotic, and TRULY FREE, way of life for ALL of humanity on the land that yields us all LIFE. They respect EVERYONE'S right to live free NOW AND FOREVER, and should be commended and revered for their efforts of promoting civility and virtue, and ensuring that some beauty still exists in this country....in its land AND in its people.

It seems to me *A that you have missed the point. The Indian Reorganization Act and IGRA are both flawed laws that set out to right some of those wrongs you are jumping to your high horse about. Unfortunately, they did not truly help anyone. 75 years of misinterpretation was corrected by this case. Hopefully, a better solution will be forthcoming. There have been some very smart people working on this for a long time. Some of them are Native Americans.

We are all as humans stuck with the beds that our ancestors made for us. It is for us to make it a better country to live in by our unity not by our separatism. It takes courage and forethought and understanding. You speak of great ideals and yet you defend humans that are just as fallible as those of us that you clearly hate.
I had great respect for the people of the First Nations before I was lied to by some of those same people you want to honor. They wanted a casino, a predatory gambling facility, to make themselves rich. They have lied blatantly, cheated, and called any opposition racist just to have their way. Is this honorable or charitable or respectful? These people are not saints because they were here first or suffered at the hands of others. They are just people.