Mashpee Wampanoag trust-land litigation (Littlefield v. Dept. of the Interior line)

What happened

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe obtained federal acknowledgement from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2007. In 2015 the BIA approved taking two areas into trust for the Tribe. The land in Mashpee, Massachusetts, was largely for housing, and the land in Taunton was for economic activities, primarily a gaming casino and resort. Local residents sued, saying the Secretary lacked authority because the Tribe was not "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934, as Carcieri v. Salazar (2009) requires.

In 2016 Judge Young of the District of Massachusetts agreed with the residents. He ruled that the second definition of "Indian" in section 479 of the Indian Reorganization Act "unambiguously incorporates the entire antecedent phrase," so no deference was due the Secretary, and that the Secretary "lacked the authority to acquire land in trust for the Mashpees, as they were not then under Federal jurisdiction." The matter was remanded to the Secretary.

On February 27, 2020, the First Circuit affirmed. It held that the plain meaning of the IRA's text precludes the BIA's interpretation, and that the Secretary lacked authority to take land into trust for the Tribe.

On remand the Secretary decided that the Tribe was not under federal jurisdiction in 1934, and directed the BIA to take the land out of trust. The Tribe sued in the District of Columbia. In 2020 that court granted the Tribe's motion for summary judgment and remanded to the agency for further proceedings, citing the agency's arbitrary and capricious explanation.

Good to know. The court cases are captioned Littlefield, not Mashpee, though the Tribe itself appeared as an appellant in the First Circuit.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error