Redding Rancheria v. Salazar

• Decision Date: 16 February 2012
• Docket Number: Case No. 11–1493 SC.
• Citation: 881 F.Supp.2d 1104
• Parties: REDDING RANCHERIA, Plaintiff, v. Kenneth SALAZAR, in his official capacity as the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, and Larry Echo Hawk, in his official capacity as the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs for the United States Department of the Interior, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California

881 F.Supp.2d 1104

REDDING RANCHERIA, Plaintiff,

v.Kenneth SALAZAR, in his official capacity as the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, and Larry Echo Hawk, in his official capacity as the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs for the United States Department of the Interior, Defendants.

Case No. 11–1493 SC.

United States District Court, N.D. California.

Feb. 16, 2012.

Lester John Marston, David Joseph Rapport, Rapport & Marston, Ukiah, CA, Neal Rice Malmsten, Tracy Lynn Edwards, Office of the Tribal Attorney Redding Rancheria, Redding, CA, Sara Dutschke Setshwaelo, SNR Denton U.S. LLP, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiff.

Charles Michael O'Connor, United States Attorney's Office, San Francisco, CA, Matthew Michael Marinelli, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

ORDER RE: CROSS–MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

SAMUEL CONTI, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This case is about an Indian tribe's efforts to build a new casino. Plaintiff Redding Rancheria (“the Tribe”) currently operates the Win–River Casino on its eight-and-a-half acre reservation in Shasta County. The Tribe seeks to expand its gaming operations by building a second casino on 230 acres of undeveloped riverfront lands. These lands, called the Strawberry Fields and the Adjacent 80 Acres (together, “Parcels”), are located a few miles outside the reservation. The Parcels were purchased by the Tribe in 2004 and 2010, respectively, and the Tribe still holds them in fee.

The United States Department of the Interior is authorized to take title to lands in trust for Indian tribes or individuals. It is possible for tribes to conduct casino-style gaming on these lands. In 2010, the Tribe asked Interior to determine whether the Parcels would be eligible for gaming if Interior was to take them into trust. Interior, acting through its Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Defendant Larry Echo Hawk, informed the Tribe that they were not. To make this decision, Interior relied on regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior (“Secretary”), Defendant Kenneth Salazar. In this lawsuit, the Tribe challenges both the decision itself and the regulations on which they were based. ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”).

The Tribe has moved for summary judgment and Interior has filed a cross-motion. ECF Nos. 17 (“Pl.'s MSJ”), 19 (“Defs.' MSJ”). Both motions have been fully briefed. ECF Nos. 21 (“Defs.' Opp'n”), 22 (“Pl.'s Opp'n”), 23 (“Pl.'s Reply”), 24 (“Defs.' Reply”). Interior has filed a certified copy of the relevant administrative record. ECF No. 14 (“AR”).¹ Having considered the briefs and the administrative record, the Court concludes that the matter is appropriate for decision without oral argument. Civil L.R. 7–1(b). As set forth below, the Court GRANTS Interior's cross-motion for summary judgment.

II. BACKGROUND

Several different statutes set out the framework governing the United States' taking of land into trust for Indian gaming. In light of this complexity, the Court first reviews the statutes central to resolving this case before turning to Interior's challenged decision and the underlying regulations.

A. Legal Background

On October 17, 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq. (“IGRA”).² In doing so, it sought “to provide a statutory basis for the operation of gaming by Indian tribes as a means of promoting tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, and strong tribal governments” while at the same time “shield[ing] [Indian-operated gaming] from organized crime and other corrupting influences, to ensure that the Indian tribe is the primary beneficiary of the gaming operation, and to assure that gaming is conducted fairly and honestly by both the operator and players.” § 2702.

IGRA both “regulates gaming on Indian lands and restricts the lands upon which Indian tribes may conduct gaming.” County of Amador v. U.S. Dep't of Interior, No. CIV. S–07–527 LKK/GGH, 2007 WL 4390499, at *2 (E.D.Cal. Dec. 13, 2007). The regulation of gaming operations on Indian lands falls to the National Indian Gaming Commission (“NIGC”), an agency chartered by IGRA and “only nominally part of [Interior].” Id. IGRA authorizes the NIGC to monitor and oversee gaming conducted by Indians, including by promulgating regulations. See § 2706(b)(10). IGRA also provides the framework for determining on which lands Indians may conduct gaming. See§§ 2703(4), 2719. IGRA authorizes NIGC “to bring proceedings against Indian gaming facilities located on non-Indian land.” N. Cnty. Cmty. Alliance, Inc. v. Salazar, 573 F.3d 738, 748 (9th Cir.2009). IGRA also regulates gaming conducted on “Indian lands,” which the statute defines as lands that are part of a tribe's reservation, § 2703(4)(A), and lands held in trust by the United States on behalf of an Indian tribe or individual, § 2703(4)(B). Thus, IGRA assumes the existence of a mechanism for determining which lands are “Indian lands”-that is, reservation or trust lands.

IGRA itself does not authorize the government to impart reservation or trust status. That authority is found within the Indian Reorganization Act, which predates IGRA. 25 U.S.C. §§ 465, 467 (“IRA”). Section 465 of the IRA vests the Secretary of the Interior with discretionary authority to take land into trust “for the purpose of providing land for Indians.” Section 467 permits the Secretary to declare and add to reservations. Only after lands are taken into trust or deemed reservations do they become “Indian lands” subject to IGRA. § 2703(4).

Section 2719 of IGRA sets forth a general prohibition against gaming on Indian lands taken into trust after the date of IGRA's passage, October 17, 1988 (“later-acquired lands”), unless specified exemptions or exceptions apply. The first exemption from the general prohibition, found in § 2719(a)(1), permits gaming on later-acquired lands if they are “within or contiguous to the boundaries of the reservation of the Indian tribe on October 17, 1988.”

This exemption plainly depends upon a tribe's having had a reservation on October 17, 1988. However, many tribes had no reservation on that date because their reservations had been terminated during one of the periods of American history when the Federal government pursued a policy of Indian assimilation. See City of Roseville v. Norton, 348 F.3d 1020, 1022 (D.C.Cir.2003) (describing most recent period); County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Indian Nation, 502 U.S. 251, 253–254, 112 S.Ct. 683, 116 L.Ed.2d 687 (1992) (previous periods). In the 1950s this policy led the Federal government to sever its government-to-government relationship with many tribes and terminate their reservations. City of Roseville, 348 F.3d at 1022. The Federal government has since repudiated this policy and some tribes have been restored, along with their reservations. See id. The plaintiff Tribe is one such restored tribe. See AR at 6102–6111.

To “ensur[e] that tribes lacking reservations when IGRA was enacted [were] not disadvantaged relative to more established ones,” Congress provided mechanisms by which restored tribes could be permitted to conduct gaming on later-acquired lands, notwithstanding IGRA's general prohibition. City of Roseville, 348 F.3d at 1030. These mechanisms take the form of “Exemptions” from the general prohibition, set forth at § 2719(a), and “Exceptions,” set forth at § 2719(b). This case turns on one of the Exceptions, § 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii) (the “Restored Lands Exception”). It provides that the general gaming prohibition does not apply to later-acquired lands if the “lands are taken into trust as part of ... the restoration of lands for an Indian tribe that is restored to Federal recognition.” It was under this Exception that the Tribe sought a determination from Interior as to whether the Parcels were eligible for gaming.

B. Factual Background

In 1922, on behalf of the Tribe, the Federal government established a reservation of about 30 acres, the original Redding Rancheria. See AR 5405–13 (“Decision”) ³ at 1. In 1965, the government withdrew the Tribe's federal recognition and terminated the reservation. Id. at 1–2. In 1984, the Tribe was restored to federal recognition. Id. at 2. Eight years later, in 1992, the United States took back into trust a portion of the original Rancheria comprising roughly 8.5 acres. Id. at 2. The Tribe currently operates the Win–River Casino on that land. Id.

In 2004 and 2010, the Tribe bought the Parcels onto which it hopes to expand its gaming operation. Pl.'s MSJ at ix-x. The Parcels therefore are later-acquired lands for purposes of § 2719 and gaming may occur on these lands only if they fall within one of IGRA's Exemptions or Exceptions.

The Tribe seeks to set aside a decision rendered by Interior on December 22, 2010, in which Interior determined that the Parcels did not qualify for the Restored Lands Exception, based on regulations promulgated by the Secretary. Decision at 7–8. The regulations implementing the Restored Lands Exception are codified at 25 C.F.R. §§ 292.7–292.12 (“Regulations”).⁴

The Regulations set forth conditions for qualifying for the Restored Lands Exception. In short, the Restored Lands Exception only applies to a restored tribe's restored lands. Interior does not dispute that the Tribe is a restored tribe. Decision at 3–5. Rather, Interior has determined that the Parcels are not “restored lands” under the Regulations. Id. at 5.

For a tribe that has been judicially restored to federal recognition, as the plaintiffTribe was, Interior will only deem the tribe's later-acquired lands “restored” if the lands meet criteria set forth in § 292.12. See Decision at 5. Section 292.12 requires restored tribes to show three kinds of connections to its later-acquired lands: a modern connection, § 292.12(a); a historical connection, § 292.12(b); and a temporal connection, § 292.12(c). Interior found that the Tribe had demonstrated...