Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe served with subpoena for financial records

By Jessica Hill
Posted Jul 15, 2020

Attorney says tribe is not the target of grand jury investigation.

MASHPEE — The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston served a federal grand jury subpoena to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe last monthfor a hefty number of documents and financial records.

The news was shared with tribe members during a June 23 Tribal Council meeting.

Wampanoag officials had no comment Wednesday and referred all inquiries to tribal attorney Benjamin Wish.

“The government has informed the Tribe that it is not the target of the pending grand jury investigation,” Wish said in an email. “The Tribe intends to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office concerning the subpoena requests and anticipates that the Tribe will also cooperate with any other proper request for information. The Tribe remains focused on economic development and supporting its members during the ongoing pandemic.”

Tribal officials do not know whom the investigation is targeting, according to a source with knowledge of the case.

By “Tribe,” the subpoena refers to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and its affiliates, including the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority, Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Council and the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council Inc., according to a copy of the June 5 letter that accompanied subpoena from the Justice Department.

The letter, signed by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Wichers, said: “Pursuant to an official investigation being conducted by a federal Grand Jury in the District of Massachusetts of suspected violations of federal criminal law, you are directed to furnish to the Grand Jury the documents described in the attached subpoena.”

The subpoena requests all personnel records for Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell, Treasurer Gordon Harris and former Treasurer Robert T. Hendricks, as well as Mark Harding and Louis Catarina Jr.  

Harding is the founder of WampWorx, a native-owned construction firm in Mashpee, and Catarina is the principal consultant and program manager for Strategic Quality Solutions. Harding and Catarina declined to comment.

In his role for the tribe, Catarina provided “strategic direction” and “management” and coordinated development of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Gaming Authority First Light Resort and Casino project, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also developed and managed operational finances and budgets. Catarina also served as a board member of the Taunton Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Gaming Authority.

Last year, the Times learned that Harris and Hendricks had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, although it was unclear for what reason.

Federal grand jury proceedings are secret, and comprise about two dozen citizens who serve as members for a term of 18 months. They examine documents and hear testimony to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge someone with a crime.

The personnel records requested in the subpoena include job titles, dates of employment, resumes, contracts and agreements, timecards, performance reviews, compensation, disciplinary records and grievances and complaints by or against the people listed. It also requested documentation regarding loans for those five people, including any loan repayment or forgiveness, fringe benefits and perks, and expense reports, according to a copy of the letter.

The subpoena asked for documentation of all payments between the tribe or its financial backer, Genting Malaysia, and those same people listed above between Jan.1, 2014, and April 30, 2020. The subpoena specified direct deposit records, copies of checks, records of cash payments and wire transfers.

The subpoena also requested documents dating back to 2011 relating to the Delahunt Group, as well as documents going back to 2014 for WampWorx and Strategic Quality Solutions. Those documents include emails, records and payments or documentation of work that those organizations performed for the tribe.

The Delahunt Group, which is led by former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, whose district included the Cape and Islands, is a longtime lobbyist for the tribe. The organization, which the tribe hired in 2011, has helped the tribe with its ongoing effort to pass federal legislation that would protect its sovereignty status. It originally helped the tribe pursue gaming and navigate the federal bureaucracies for health care, housing and education for tribe members, Cromwell previously told the Times.

Delahunt did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Finally, the subpoena also requests all agendas and meeting minutes from tribal meetings as well as records relating to any proposed or enacted tribe resolution or policy between January 2014 and April 30, 2020.

Because the tribe is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, there is no deadline to turn over all of the requested documents, the source said.

Elizabeth McCarthy, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts, could “neither confirm nor deny investigations,” she said in an email Wednesday.

It remains unclear the specific reasons for the recent subpoena and the connections of the individuals listed.

The tribe has been engaged in a yearslong legal battle for sovereignty. It had planned to build a $1 billion casino called the First Light Resort and Casino in Taunton, but plans came to a halt when neighbors of the project sued, arguing the tribe had no right to build on its reservation because it did not meet a definition of “Indian” in the Indian Reorganization Act.

With the standstill of the casino, which was projected to bring in $50 million in revenue, the tribe has been struggling with its finances.

Since he became chairman in 2009, Cromwell repeatedly has come under fire for his handling of tribe finances. Some members critical of his administration have called for more transparency. He and Harris had faced allegations from some tribe members who accused them of wrongful conduct in connection with $500 million owed to Genting Malaysia.

In June 2019, a robocall circulated within the tribal community alleging that $250 million handled by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority was unaccounted for. In January 2019, the tribal council had taken a vote of no-confidence and voted to strip Cromwell of his financial responsibilities in connection with the tribe and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority, a five-member board Cromwell is president of that oversees the tribe’s gaming operation.

Last fall, some tribe members sought to recall Cromwell and Harris for alleged malfeasance. The tribe’s Election Committee canceled the election three days before it was to take place.

Tribe argues land case in U.S. District Court

Tribe argues land case in U.S. District Court

By Jessica Hill

Posted May20, 2020

A U.S. District judge said Wednesday he could rule in a week to 10 days on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s latest attempt to salvage a $1 billion casino deal with the city of Taunton.

Judge Paul Friedman heard the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe v. Zinke case via teleconference, in which the plaintiff and defendant gave arguments centering on whether the tribe’s land should be removed from trust status, based on whether the tribe was under federal jurisdiction prior to the establishment of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

The tribe, the Department of the Interior and the Littlefields, along with other Taunton neighbors, have been the key players in this yearslong battle over whether the government had the authority to take the land into trust in the first place.

The plaintiff argued that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s order in March to remove the tribe’s land from trust was arbitrary and capricious because he had rejected evidence that other tribes have used to obtain trust land in the past. The defense said the Interior Department’s 2018 decision was thoroughly evaluated and consistent with prior decisions.

The tribe had plans to build a $1 billion casino in Taunton that would bring economic aid to the tribe and the city of Taunton through an intergovernmental agreement. Neighbors of the proposed casino were opposed, however, and filed a lawsuit, arguing that the Interior Department had no authority to take the tribe’s land into trust.

In 2015, the Interior Department took 321 acres in Mashpee and Taunton into trust for the tribe, but under a new administration reversed itself in 2018. The tribe had appealed a district court judge’s ruling in favor of the reversal and lost, and in a separate action it challenged the Interior Department’s reversal.

In late March, the Interior Department informed the tribe it would remove its land from trust status. The tribe asked for the federal court to issue an emergency order that would postpone Bernhardt’s decision. The tribe and the Department of the Interior agreed to a 45-day pause period.

Wednesday’s hearing could determine the future of the tribe’s lands as well as its financial future. Depending on what the judge decides, the Interior Department might have to take a second look at the tribe’s qualification for land-in-trust status. A ruling in favor of the defendant might mean the tribe would lose some of its land or the tax relief that comes with it.

The plaintiff argued that several pieces of evidence show the tribe was clearly under federal authority before 1934, while the defense argued that those pieces of evidence are not explicit or show only state jurisdiction.

The tribe’s lawyer, Tami Lyn Azorsky of Dentons LLP, offered examples such as old census reports to show the tribe was under federal jurisdiction. One element of her argument concerned a federal school in Pennsylvania attended by children of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

From 1879 to 1918, the United States Carlisle Indian Industrial School operated a boarding school that hosted Native American children from around the country, with the goal of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American culture.

Azorsky said the school took responsibility for every asset of the children’s lives, including medical decisions, without parents’ consent. Because the school was run by the federal government, and members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe attended, this demonstrates the exercise of federal authority, Azorsky argued.

The defendant argued that this evidence was not affirmative of federal jurisdiction. It showed, at most, that the tribe was “under Congress’s linear authority” and was not sufficient, said Sara Costello, federal attorney for the defense.

Azorsky also brought up reports in which the federal government considered taking an action regarding the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and then ultimately decided against it. Because no action was taken, the Interior Department dismissed those reports as evidence.

Azorsky emphasized that action does not determine jurisdiction. She said acknowledgment of responsibility is the standard.

“Isn’t a decision not to do something just as much an action as a decision to do something?” Judge Friedman asked the defense.

“The decision to do nothing does not show that the tribe is under federal jurisdiction,” Costello said.

The plaintiff argued the Bernhardt’s order to remove the tribe’s land from trust was arbitrary and capricious because he had rejected evidence that other tribes have used to obtain trust land in the past. The defense said the Interior Department’s 2018 decision was thoroughly evaluated and consistent with prior decisions.

“The Interior Department thoroughly discussed each piece of evidence and thoroughly explained why it chose to do what it did,” Costello said. “The Interior applied the correct standard for determining the federal jurisdiction, set forth in the M-Opinion.”

The “M-Opinion” is a legal opinion the Department of the Interior had been using to determine whether a tribe was under federal jurisdiction at the time of the Indian Reorganization Act. In March, Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs Daniel H. Jorjani withdrew the opinion, concluding in a March 5 document that the interpretation of the first definition of “Indian” is not consistent with the “ordinary meaning, statutory context, legislative history, or contemporary administrative understanding” of the phrase ’recognized Indian tribe now under federal jurisdiction.”

Jorjani had issued another memorandum that provided a four-step procedure for determining tribal eligibility that would be “more consistent with how Congress and the Department would have understood them” in 1934.

Judge Friedman criticized that change, calling the March 5 document a “joke” and “incomprehensible.”

If the current matter is remanded, Costello said, the tribe’s case will be a pending application, and so the new guidance would apply, Costello said.

“Basically you’re saying, ‘Heads I win, tails you lose,’” Friedman said. “If I remanded to Interior, you want to apply a new guidance to them which makes it harder for them to succeed.”

The new guidelines would not make it harder for the tribe to succeed in keeping its land in trust, Costello argued.

Costello emphasized that if the tribe’s land is taken out of trust, it will still have access to different funding because of its status as a federally recognized tribe. It is still entitled to COVID-19 aid under the CARES Act, as well as other funds regarding social services and transportation.

“That’s not dependent on having land under trust,” Costello said.

If Friedman he were to rule in favor of the Department of the Interior, and the tribe’s land were taken out of trust, the land would return to the previous deed holder, Azorsky said.

The Taunton land would be lost because of the mortgages, she said, and because the tribe has an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Taunton, the city also would be hurt.

“Interior is the federal trustee for the tribe, and Interior has an obligation to protect the tribe,” Azorsky said. “It doesn’t make sense that there is a rush to take this land out of trust. There still has to be an orderly process, and the tribe’s federal trustee rushing to judgment to disestablish this reservation when no procedure has been figured out yet, it doesn’t make sense.”

While the teleconference dropped for listeners near the end of the plaintiff’s rebuttal, the public was able to listen in for most of the hearing.

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Mashpee tribe’s reservation land ‘disestablished’

By Jessica Hill
Posted Mar 29, 2020

MASHPEE — An unprecedented decision by the U.S. secretary of the Interior to rescind the Mashpee Wampanoag’s land-into-trust comes as a “hardcore blow” to the tribe, according to Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell.


Cromwell learned the news during a call Friday afternoon with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

He thought the bureau was calling to see if there was anything the tribe needed during the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, he was told that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has ordered that the tribe’s land be taken out of trust and the reservation be disestablished.

“It was absurd,” Cromwell said in a phone interview Saturday. “It’s like a punch in the nose from a bully.”

Cromwell said he tried to ask questions about what this new order means and when it will take effect, but he received no answers.

“It’s somewhat of a dictatorship,” he said.

“It feels like we’ve been dropped off into a new world we’ve never seen before, i.e., in this pandemic and the way my tribe is being treated,” Cromwell said. “With this happening now, this is a direct, hardcore blow to dissolving and disestablishing my tribe.”

Because of the pandemic, many tribal operations were put on hold, such as the construction of 42 affordable housing units in Mashpee and the operation of a school dedicated to reestablishing its tribal language.

Also in limbo are the tribe’s plans to build a $1 billion casino in Taunton, which was part of a yearslong litigation that led to the questioning of whether the tribe qualified for land-in-trust status.

The order comes from no court, Cromwell said, and has never been done before. Since 1934, with the implementation of the Indian Reorganization Act, lands have been put in trust for tribes across the nation to uphold its sovereignty. The current administration is the first to remove a tribe from its trust status, Cromwell said.

The news comes about a month after the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Interior Department lacked authority to take that land into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in 2015. The court had upheld a 2016 decision that the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction at the time that the Indian Reorganization Act was passed, disqualifying it for land-in-trust status.

The tribe had appealed that ruling, and in a separate action, had filed suit against the Interior Department in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge its reversal. Cromwell said the separate lawsuit is still happening in Washington. They are waiting for the oral arguments to be filed.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe remains a federally recognized tribe, according to Conner Swanson, deputy press secretary for the Department of the Interior.

“On March 19th, the court of appeals issued its mandate, which requires Interior to rescind its earlier decision,” Swanson said in an email. “This decision does not affect the federal recognition status of the Tribe, only Interior’s statutory authority to accept the land in trust. Rescission of the decision will return ownership of the property to the Tribe.”

A bill called the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act would resolve much of the tribe’s uncertainties. It would stop litigation and confirm the tribe’s homeland, Cromwell said. But the bill is stuck in the Senate.

U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass, the main sponsor of the bill, said in a phone interview Saturday that this order to disestablish the tribe’s land-in-trust comes as odd timing and that competing interests could be causing the bill’s delay.

Keating said the bill is bipartisan, with Republican leaders co-sponsoring it, and should have moved through quickly.

When the bill was put forth in the House in May, President Donald Trump tweeted his opposition.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Committee, is a lobbyist for the Rhode Island casinos, such as the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Keating said. His wife, Mercedes Schlapp, is a senior White House communications aide.

“I think that’s what’s slowing it in the Senate,” Keating said.

He said there is no logic in the Interior Department’s decision. During a time of national health and economic emergency, the secretary of the Interior should be reaching out to help all Native American tribes, Keating said in a statement.

Keating said Bernhardt should be ashamed.

“This is just a cruel act and it’s hard to understand how someone could act like that at this time,” Keating said.

“Is he foolish enough to think that putting it out on a late Friday in the midst of the coronavirus, it will get buried?” Keating said. “That’s the opposite. It’s cruel.”

While the tribe’s legal team explores options available for them to take through court, Cromwell is calling for a meeting with Bernhardt to learn why this decision was made. He also urged President Trump to support the tribe and hopes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will work to pass the bill.

“I’m calling upon the United States Congress to right this wrong to immediately take up the bill and pass it,” Cromwell said.

Jean Luc-Pierite, president of the board of directors of the North American Indian Center of Boston, said in an email to Cromwell that the center is writing a letter for state action to address the impacts of the Indian Country during the pandemic. He said the center will also include language to support the Wampanoag Tribe’s efforts to protect their lands.

“This is an existential crisis for all tribes federally recognized after 1934,” wrote Luc-Pierite, who is a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana.

“I just want to call out to all of America to rise up,” Cromwell said. “We’re not giving up and this is not the end.”


THE MASHPEE WAMPANOAG TRIBE BEGAN ITS RECENT QUEST IN SWAMPLAND IN MIDDLEBORO. 
THERE'S A GREAT DEAL OF HISTORY IN THE TRIBE'S QUEST FOR A CASINO...WASN'T THEIR FIRST PROPOSAL IN PLYMOUTH? THEN MIDDLEBORO, THEN FALL RIVER, THEN TAUNTON? 

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Is Cedric Cromwell being truthful about even having an active application for lands-in-trust?

Mashpee tribe leader turns to Trump for help

Mashpee tribe leader turns to Trump for help




By Jessica Hill

Posted Feb 28, 2020


Appeals court ruling on land-in-trust status another setback in bid for sovereignty.

MASHPEE — The leader of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has called upon President Donald Trump for help in the wake of another court ruling that threatens the tribe’s land-in-trust status.

“We’re relying on our courts thinking justice is taking place,” Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said. “Justice doesn’t take place ... I need our president to help us. He is the only one who can fix this.”

Cromwell wants to invite Trump to visit the Wampanoag Tribe and learn about its history in hopes he will understand where the tribe is coming from and “extend an olive branch” to secure the tribe’s homelands. Cromwell said he would meet with the assistant secretary of Indian Affairs and work to coordinate a meeting with the president.

The tribe has been caught up in legal battles for years over whether it qualified to have its land taken into trust, which cleared the way for it to build a proposed $1 billion casino and resort in Taunton. The latest ruling, issued Thursday by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, upheld a 2016 decision by Federal Judge William Young that the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction at the time the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934. The Interior Department therefore lacked the authority to take land into trust for the tribe in 2015, the appeals court found.

One path forward for the tribe is legislation before Congress that would reaffirm that initial decision by the Interior Department.

The bill, called the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, could stop litigation and confirm the tribe’s homeland, Cromwell said.

Sponsored by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., the bill passed the House in May but has not been acted on by the Senate.

“The recent court decision is disappointing, which is why my bill is so critical to the Tribe,” Keating said in a statement Friday. “It’s beyond comprehension that the first tribe mentioned in our history books is having its very existence questioned.”

“We’re cautiously optimistic about winning in D.C. and getting our legislation passed,” Cromwell said.

Based on the outcome of the litigation in Boston, Cromwell is concerned about another case pending in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In that case, the tribe sued the Interior Department for reversing its decision to take the land into trust after Young’s ruling.

Historically, Cromwell said, it has been one injustice after another for the tribe, whose members have been treated as “second-class citizens.”

The Interior Department had taken 321 acres of land in Mashpee and Taunton into trust for the tribe. 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 the resort and casino, and the Mashpee land primarily for housing, according to the appeals court ruling.

Crowell said the tribe was asking for only 1% of what its total land base once was.

A group of Taunton residents led by David and Michelle Littlefield went to court to fight the planned casino.

“We said in 2012 that if the federal government took land into trust in Massachusetts, it would be against the law and we would fight it at the local, state and federal level,” the Littlefields said in a statement after Thursday’s court ruling. “We had a small group of citizens who committed eight years to researching and learning. It was an uphill battle and we were outspent and outnumbered at every turn.

“We kept our word,” their statement says. “We fought hard. We stayed the course, and we won.”

The legal arguments focused on specific definitions in the Indian Reorganization Act, such as the words “such” and “now.”

″‘Such’ is not animate,” Cromwell said. “It’s inanimate. We’re talking about lives here. We’re talking about people. ... We are the first Americans.”

Cromwell remains hopeful that he and the tribe will get help.

“Our land is still in trust,” he said. “And we’re going to continue to fight for our homelands. We’re not going to give up. We need our commander in chief to help us.”

Court rejects Mashpee tribe’s appeal of land-in-trust ruling

Court rejects Mashpee tribe’s appeal of land-in-trust ruling

By Cape Cod Times

Posted Feb 27, 2020


Separate lawsuit still pending in District of Columbia court

BOSTON — The Interior Department lacked authority to take land into trust for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in 2015, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

The court upheld a 2016 decision by U.S. District Judge William Young that the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction at the time the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934, disqualifying it for land-in-trust status. Young had sent the case back to the Interior Department, which reversed its earlier decision.

The tribe had appealed Young’s ruling and, in a separate action, filed suit against the Interior Department in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge its reversal.

“The decision has no impact on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s pending litigation in Washington, D.C., and its land will not be taken out of trust as a result of today’s decision,” tribal spokesman Steven Peters said in a statement Thursday night. “The Tribe will continue this fight and continue its plea that the United States Congress take action — the Tribe will not give up the fight to protect its lands.”

The case has been part of a yearslong battle between the tribe and neighbors of its proposed $1 billion casino in Taunton.

The Interior Department initially took 321 acres of land in Mashpee and Taunton into trust. The federal government has long acted as trustee for tribes, holding land deeds in trust for the purpose of self-government. The tribe had planned to use the Mashpee land primarily for housing and the Taunton land for economic activities, mainly the resort and casino, the appeals court ruling states.

A group of Taunton residents, led by David and Michelle Littlefield, went to court in an attempt to block the casino, which led to Young’s decision.

“We said in 2012 that if the federal government took land into trust in Massachusetts, it would be against the law and we would fight it at the local, state and federal level,” the Littlefields said in a statement Thursday night. “We had a small group of citizens who committed eight years to researching and learning. It was an uphill battle and we were outspent and outnumbered at every turn.

“We kept our word,” their statement says. “We fought hard. We stayed the course, and we won.”

The legal arguments through the years have focused on specific wording in the Indian Reorganization Act.

“Much of this case revolved around the ambiguity of two words — ‘now’ and ‘such,’” Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said in a statement. “We will continue to fight, as our ancestors did, to preserve our land base, our culture and our spiritual connection to our homelands.”

Mashpee tribe presses bid for sovereignty

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Mashpee tribe presses bid for sovereignty
By Jessica Hill

Posted Feb 5, 2020

Court hears appeal of land-in-trust ruling that has put casino plans on hold.

BOSTON — Members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe stepped out of a federal court Wednesday feeling hopeful.

“I’m feeling like our attorneys did a good job,” Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said. “The justices were on the right side of the law.”

After hearing arguments, a three-judge panel for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took under advisement the tribe’s appeal of a lower court decision that the Interior Department was not authorized to take the tribe’s land into trust.

The tribe has been enmeshed in a yearslong battle with neighbors over its proposed $1 billion casino in Taunton, planned to include 300 hotel rooms, 3,000 slot machines, 150 table games and 40 poker tables.

With pending litigation involving the tribe, the casino has been put on hold.

The federal government has long acted as trustee for tribes, holding land deeds in trust for the purpose of sovereignty and self-government. In 2015, the Interior Department under the Obama administration took 321 acres of reservation land into trust in Mashpee and Taunton for the Wampanoag.

The land-in-trust designation also cleared the way for the tribe to pursue a casino.

In 2016, however, U.S. District Judge William Young ruled that the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction at the time the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934, disqualifying it for land-in-trust status. He sent the case back to the Interior Department, and in 2018 the department under the Trump administration sided with Young’s decision, reversing its previous ruling.

Lawyers argued Wednesday over whether the Mashpee tribe, which was federally recognized in 2007, falls under federal jurisdiction in the Indian Reorganization Act based on the law’s definitions of “Indian.”

It categorizes “Indian” as someone of Indian descent who is a member of a recognized Indian tribe now under federal jurisdiction, a person who is a descendant of such members who were residing within the present boundaries of any Indian reservation on June 1, 1934, or a person of one-half or more Indian blood.

Benjamin Wish, the attorney representing the tribe, argued the word “such” in the definition was ambiguous and left room for interpretation, allowing the tribe to fall under federal jurisdiction under the statute.

“This was not a statute meant to nibble around the edges,” Wish said, “but rather hit a body blow against centuries of mistreatment from the United States to the Mashpee Indians.”

Wish compared the Wampanoag’s issue to a 1980s case involving the Catawba Indian Nation. The Catawba were not under federal jurisdiction, but the Interior Department determined they could organize under the Indian Reorganization Act because they existed as a tribe since at least the mid-1800s.

“They were a recognized Indian tribe,” Wish said.

“The Mashpee Wampanoag fit exactly under those characteristics.”

Also raised in the arguments was the 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Carcieri v. Salazar, in which the high court rejected a broad reading of the definition of “Indian” and determined that the secretary of the Interior could not take land into trust for tribes that were not under federal jurisdiction before the Indian Reorganization Act passed.

David Tennant, the attorney representing the Taunton neighbors, led by David and Michelle Littlefield, said there was no way to read “such members” that would include the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

“From our perspective, it’s about the plain text,” Tennant said.

The case under advisement is not the only litigation the tribe faces. It also has filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Interior Department to challenge the 2018 reversal.

Many tribe members said the case goes beyond a fight for a casino — it’s about sovereignty.

David Weeden, a tribe member and Mashpee selectman, said although economic development is important for the tribe, jurisdictional authority and sovereignty are critical.

Tela Troge, a lawyer for the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, New York, came to the hearing to support the Mashpee tribe, as its case mirrors the current struggle her tribe faces.

“If you look at what’s going on with the Mashpee, our struggle with the Shinnecock is the same exact struggle,” she said. “They’re going to clear the legal path for us.”

As with the Wampanoag, she said, the federal government did not take tribal land into trust under the Indian Reorganization Act. The Interior Department has a legal duty to take both tribes under federal jurisdiction, Troge said.

The Littlefields declined to comment after the hearing.

While the case is in the courts, U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., who represents Taunton and Mashpee, has pushed legislation in Congress that would reaffirm the initial 2015 decision that put reservation land into trust. The House approved the bill, but it has not been acted on since being referred to the Senate in May.

“We’re not standing down,” Cromwell said. “We’re standing together.”