Interior Department appeals June ruling over Wampanoag land

By Beth Treffeison
Posted Aug 1, 2020

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that the department incorrectly found that the tribe did not qualify for land-in-trust status.

“This action by the Secretary of the Interior shows contempt for the June 5th ruling in the District Court of D.C.,” Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell wrote in a statement.

The appeal was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District on Columbia.

“Without providing the Tribe with any warning, and without providing justification or reasoning, the Secretary’s action, unfortunately, is consistent with this Administration’s constant failure to acknowledge or address the history of injustice against our Tribe and all Native Americans, and its utter lack of interest in protecting tribal lands,” Cromwell wrote.

The appeal is even more “brazen” given the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on the community and the toll it has taken on the tribe’s resources, Cromwell said.

In early June, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe celebrated a victory in its yearslong battle for sovereignty when a federal judge ruled the Interior Department incorrectly applied its own guidelines in finding the tribe did not qualify for land-in-trust status.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, at the time, said that the department’s 2018 decision that the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction in 1934 was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and contrary to law.” He sent the case back to the department for “thorough reconsideration and reevaluation of the evidence.”

The judge also said the department could take no further action on disestablishing the tribe’s reservation until it correctly applied its guidelines on reconsideration.

The Interior Department issued a statement in early June saying it was reviewing the decision and its options to proceed.

The department had taken 321 acres in Mashpee and Taunton into trust for the tribe in 2015.

The federal government has long acted as trustee for tribes for the purpose of self-government.

The tribe had planned to use the Taunton land for economic development, mainly a $1 billion resort and casino, and the Mashpee land primarily for housing.

The casino proposal led to a long legal battle with Taunton residents who opposed the project. Then, the Interior Department under the Trump administration reversed itself in 2018, finding the tribe did not qualify for land-in-trust status.

A federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of the reversal, and the tribe lost on appeal. The tribe also sued the Secretary of the Interior in a Washington, D.C., court.

In late March, the Interior Department informed the tribe it would remove its land from trust status. The tribe asked the federal court in Washington to issue an emergency order that would postpone that action. Friedman heard arguments on that request and on the lawsuit May 20, before ruling on it June.

“The Secretary is out of step with Indian Country and with scores of both Democratic and Republican members of Congress who have called for the protection of our reservation,” Cromwell said in the statement.

Despite every effort to disestablish the reservation, the tribe remains grateful for the support they have received from local, state and national leaders, Cromwell wrote.

“We will never stop the fight to preserve and protect our proud culture and traditions,” he said.