Posted Feb. 26, 2008
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review an appeal by the State of Rhode Island that challenges the federal government’s power to take land into trust on behalf of Native American tribes.
The U.S. Department of the Interior last year acted to take a 31-acre parcel in Charlestown into trust for the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island. The land, purchased by the tribe in 1991, is near the existing 1,800-acre tribal land trust in Charlestown.
The Interior Department’s action was upheld in July by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit; the Boston court rejected Rhode Island’s claim that federal law prevented the land-taking.
In October, the state filed a petition asking the high court to review the First Circuit decision. In announcing the Supreme Court’s response, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s office yesterday described the July ruling as a decision “that the Secretary of the Interior’s power to take land into federal trust for Indians – and thereby divest the state of its jurisdiction – is virtually unlimited.”
The case the Supreme Court has agreed to hear – “Carcieri v. [U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk] Kempthorne” – “challenges the federal government’s power to divest Rhode Island of its sovereignty over land within its borders in the face of two Congressional acts limiting that power.” the governor’s office said.
“I’m extremely gratified that the Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear our argument in this case of national importance,” Carcieri himself added. “This is great news for the people of Rhode Island and an important step for every state facing similar issues.
“For too long, the legitimate concerns of states in the federal land-to-trust process have been ignored,” the governor said. “It is simply not acceptable for any state to be stripped of its sovereignty over land within its borders by mid-level bureaucrats in Washington.”
R.I. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, who filed the state’s petition last October, described the high court’s acceptance as an “acknowledgement … that this is a case of great national interest and significance.
“Sixteen states across the country, from Alaska to Florida, wouldn’t have joined our cause if it wasn’t just, and the reason is clear: With the stroke of a pen, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior can unilaterally strip a state of its sovereign jurisdiction by taking land into trust – even where there are currently no federally recognized Indian tribes.
“There is something fundamentally wrong with this principle,” Lynch said. “We look forward to representing Rhode Island’s interests to the very best of our abilities when the case is reviewed in the fall.”
The Narragansett Indian Tribe did not immediately respond to the Providence Business News’ requests for comment.
Additional news and information from the governor’s office is available at www.mass.gov.
The Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island – the namesake of the Town of Narragansett – has its administrative offices in Charlestown and its Nuweetooun School and Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter. Additional information is available at www.Narragansett-Tribe.org.
Information about the U.S. Supreme Court, including cases on the high court docket and the court’s past decisions, is available online at www.SupremeCourtUS.gov.
