United States Tenth Circuit

Admission of the owners of the land into an Indian tribe is alone not sufficient evidence of tribal authority to bring the land within the definition of 'Indian lands' under 25 USC 2710 of the Indian Gaming Regulation Act.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/04/2001
• Published 05/04/2001

Judges

• BALDOCK, Circuit Judge., Before EBEL, BALDOCK, and KELLY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• M.J. Willoughby, Assistant Attorney General, State of Kansas, Topeka, KS, for Plaintiffs-Appellees., Sean H. Donahue, Appellate Section, United States Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Washington, DC (Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant United States Attorney General;  Rhonda D. Harjo, Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of the Interior, Kevin K. Washburn, General Counsel, National Indian Gaming Commission;  William B. Lazarus and John A. Bryson, Appellate Section, United States Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Washington DC, Jackie N. Williams, United States Attorney;  Melanie D. Caro, Assistant United States Attorney, Kansas City, KS, with him on the brief), for Federal Defendants-Appellants United States of America, Gale A. Norton, Monte R. Deer, National Indian Gaming Commission, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Gaming Management Staff Office, Kevin Glover, Jimmie Fields, Dan Deerinwater, George Skibine, Derril B. Jordan, John Jasper, Richard Schipf, and Gloria Wilson., James K. Logan of Logan Law Firm L.L.C., Olathe, KS, (Kip A. Kubin of Payne & Jones, Chtd., Overland Park, KS;  Christopher J. Reedy of Colantuono & Associates, L.L.C., Leawood, KS, with him on the brief), for Defendants-Appellants Floyd E. Leonard, Charles E. Wade, Julie L. Olds, Judy O. Davis, James O. Downing, Bob Woodcock, Clark D. Stewart, Butler National Service Corporation, and Miami Tribe of Oklahoma., John R. Shordike and Thomas Weathers of Alexander & Karshmer, Berkeley, CA;  Charley Laman, Assistant General Counsel, Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas;  Mason D. Morisset of Morisset, Schlosser, Ayer & Jozwiak, Seattle, WA, filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri, Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, and Prairie Band of Potawatomi Indians, in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees.