Indian Nations Law Update - May 2012

Supreme Court Puzzles Over Patchak Fee-to-Trust Case

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments April 24 in Patchak v. Salazar. The Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to his authority under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), had accepted 147 acres of fee land in Wayland Township, Michigan, into trust on behalf of the Tribe in 2009 for gaming purposes. Patchak, a neighboring land owner, had sued under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), asserting standing based on alleged adverse impacts on his property from gaming and challenging the Secretary's decision on the ground that the Tribe was not under federal jurisdiction as of the date the IRA was enacted, as required pursuant to the Supreme Court's 2009 decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. While the suit was pending, the government took title to the land in trust for the Tribe, whereupon the district court dismissed under the Quiet Title Act (QTA), which waives the immunity of the United States to permit