Connecticut Indian Land Claims Settlement
Encyclopedia
The Connecticut Indian Land Claims Settlement was an Indian Land Claims Settlement
passed by the United States Congress in 1983. The settlement act ended a lawsuit by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe
to recover 800 acres of their 1666 reservation in Ledyard, Connecticut
, sold in 1855, allegedly in violation of the Nonintercourse Act.
The settlement act appropriated $900,000 to buy the disputed lands and transferred those lands and the state reservation to the federal government in trust. The settlement act permits the state of Connecticut
to exercise civil and criminal, but not regulatory, jurisdiction over the lands. This laid the foundation for the Mashantucket Pequot to create the Foxwoods Resort Casino
, the largest casino in the world by revenue and floor space, and the most profitable.
(1634—1638) all but exterminated the Pequots, dividing the captives up between the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes who had allied with the settlers. In 1651, John Winthrop the Younger persuaded the Connecticut Colony
to create a 500 acre reservation for the Pequots in Noank, removing them from their previous places of residence. In 1666, the Connecticut General Assembly voted to create a 2,000 acre reservation for the "western" Pequots (the group previously in the custody of the Mohegans) in Ledyard, Connecticut
; the eastern Pequots were given 280 acres in present-day North Stonington, Connecticut
. By 1790 (the year that Congress passed the first Nonintercourse Act), the reservation was only 1,000 acres. In 1855, Connecticut sold 800 of the remaining acres at $10/acre, putting the money into a state administered trust account for the Pequots.
In the 1970s, David Crosby of Pine Tree Legal Assistance, a non-profit law firm that was then litigating Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton
in Maine, arrived on the Pequot reservation to discuss the possibility of a land claim. Advised by Crosby, the Pequots established a non-profit corporation—Western Pequot Indians of Connecticut, Inc.—in 1974. In April 1975, Crosby finished his research and presented his findings to the Pequots.
. The case was assigned to Judge Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld
. The named plaintiffs were the Western Pequot Tribe and Richard "Skip" Hawyard
(the leader of the Pequot tribe); among the named defendants were Holdridge Enterprises and its president, David Holdridge. The 800-acre claim embraced only about a dozen to thirty-five landowner defendants. The state of Connecticut was not sued, and declined requests from the defendants to become involved in the litigation.
One of the lawyers for the defendants was Jackson King, a partner at Jacobson, Jewett & Laudone. King was first in his class at University of Connecticut School of Law
and became involved in the case when one of the named defendants, who had served with him on a local land conservation commission, called him.
The Pequots pursued federal recognition in parallel with their land claims litigation. They applied to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
to participate in HUD's Indian housing assistance program. In March 1976, Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso certified to HUD that the Pequots were 'an autonomous unit or government" for the purposes of the revenue sharing program. At this time, there were thirty-two tribal members.
BIA
On January 15, 1979, the Pequots filed a preliminary petition for federal tribal recognition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA). Historian Jack Campisi, who had previously worked as an expert witness with attorney Tom Tureen
, authored the petition. The Pequots did not submit a full recognition application to the BIA until mid-1983.
With the passage of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act in 1980, attorney Tom Tureen
turned his attention to the Mashantucket Pequot case.
In October 1981, Tureen approached King regarding a federally legislated settlement. Tureen proposed that the state of Connecticut turn over the reservation to the federal government, and that the federal government pay the property owners fair market value and include their land in the federal reservation. As part of the deal, the state would retain criminal and civil legal authority of the reservation, but not regulatory authority. The state approved the settlement in June 1982.
The federal settlement bill included a $900,000 appropriation, the appraisal value of the 800 acres, which the Pequots would use to buy the land from the landowner defendants. The legislation also provided that the landowners would not have to pay capital gains tax as long as they reinvested the money in real estate.
Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
(R-CT) delivered the draft bill to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Peter Taylor, the committee's general counsel noticed that the bill did not limit the amount or location of the lands that the Pequots could buy with the settlement funds. Tureen and King prepared a map in accordance with Taylor's wishes.
Senator William Cohen
(R-ME), the chairman of the committee, began hearings on July 14, 1982. William Coldiron, the solicitor general of the Department of the Interior, testified against the bill, which he viewed as circumventing the BIA's recognition process and spending too much money. Cohen criticized Coldiron for not knowing enough about the Pequots. Representative Sam Gejdenson
(D-CT) also supported the bill.
The House passed the bill, H.R. 6612, on October 1, 1982, and the Senate passed a different version on December 21. The compromise version was passed by the Senate on February 24, 1982 by voice vote
, and the House on March 22. However, President Ronald Reagan
vetoed the bill, opining that the state should pay more of the cost and that the Pequots may not meet the BIA's definition of a tribe. Tureen, King, Hayward, and Sandy Cadwalader of the Indian Rights Association
began lobbying for a veto override. Once 67 Senators had committed to voting for the bill, enough for what would have been the first veto override of Reagan's presidency, a compromise was proposed whereby Connecticut would contribute $200,000 of road improvements (which became known as "the veto road").
At a new set of hearings in July 1983, assistant secretary for Indian affairs, John W. Fritz, declared that the administration would not object to the new bill. Reagan signed the new bill, S. 1499, into law on October 18, 1983. Since 1983, the Mashuntucket Pequots have appeared on every list of federally recognized tribes published by the Department of the Interior in the Federal Register
.
Bingo
On April 30, 1984, the Pequot corporate body voted 12-1 with two abstentions to approve the construction of a high-stakes bingo operation. Barry Margolin, Tureen's law partner, took the lead in representing the Pequots in this matter. After Connecticut's chief state criminal attorney wrote the tribe a letter threatening to shut down the bingo operation if opened as planned, the Pequots filed for a federal preliminary injunction, which Judge Peter C. Dorsey (who, as a magistrate, had ruled favorably for the Pequots in their land claim) granted. Dorsey granted a permanent injunction on January 9, 1986, holding that Connecticut's bingo laws did not apply to the reservation. The bingo hall opened on July 5, 1986.
Cabazon Band and the IGRA
The Supreme Court's decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987) fueled the Pequot's desire to upgrade their bingo hall to a full casino. In the wake of that decision, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
(IGRA) on October 17, 1988. Tureen and Margolin concluded that the IGRA required Connecticut to negotiate a tribal-state compact with the Pequot in good faith because of a state statute that permitted non-profits, with a state license, to hold "Las Vegas nights" twice a year. The state statute in question had been lobbied for by Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD) in 1987. At the request of Governor O'Neill, acting state attorney general Clarine Riddle prepared a memorandum highlighting the differences between high school students playing casino games for monopoly money and a full-scale, for-profit casino, and O'Neill denied the request.
Foxwoods
When the state failed to negotiate, on November 3, 1989, the tribe sued the state under a provision of the IGRA—subsequently declared unconstitutional in Seminole Tribe v. Florida
(1996)—that permitted such suits if state did not negotiate in good faith within 180 days. The case was docketed again before Judge Dorsey. Dorsey granted the tribe summary judgment in May 1990, ordering the state to resume negotiations and conclude a compact within 60 days. The Second Circuit upheld Dorsey's ruling on September 4, 1990. The compact was forwarded to Secretary of Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr. on October 1990 for his approval. On April 22, 1991, the Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari
to the state's appeal from the Second Circuit's ruling.
Former Senator Weicker replaced O'Neil as governor in January 1991. Weicker was opposed to gambling, and was advised that repealing the "Las Vegas night" statute was the only way to avoid a Pequot casino. Moreover, Weicker would have had to repeal the law before Secretary Lujan gave final approval to the compact. The Pequots retained lobbyists, reached out to charity groups that utilized the "Las Vegas night" statute, and brought in Native American Rights Fund
executive director John Echohawk to defeat Weicker's proposed bill. Weicker's bill prevailed by 18-17 with one absent in the state senate. However, the House rejected the bill by more than 20 votes. Secretary Lujan approved the compact on May 31, 1991.
The Pequots signed a financing agreement with Malaysian partners on February 25, 1991 for the construction of Foxwoods Resort Casino
. Foxwoods opened on February 12, 1992. That year, even though slot machines had yet to be installed, the 245-member Pequot tribe saw $148M in revenue and $51M in profit from Foxwoods. Threatened with the possibility of competition from non-Indian gambling, the Pequots offered the state a share of slot machine revenue in October 1992 (if slot machine gambling were to be legalized in the state, the revenue sharing would cease; the issue of slot machines had been left for the courts in the original compact. On January 13, 1993, the tribe and state announced a deal that would give the state 25% of gross slot machine revenue, guaranteeing at least $100M/year. By 1998, Foxwoods was generating $1B in revenue and $152M in net income for the tribe.
Reservation expansion
Starting in 1993, the Pequot began negotiations to purchase additional lands and convey those lands to the Department of Interior in trust under the Indian Reorganization Act
(1934); local towns sued the tribes to prevent this. In 1996 and 1998, Interior Department, under Secretary Bruce Babbitt
, approved the tribe's request to put 165 and 146 acre (0.59084156 km²), respectively, into trust. The Supreme Court's decision in Carcieri v. Salazar
(2009) prevents any further similar transfers.
Indian Land Claims Settlements
Indian Land Claims Settlements are settlements of Native American land claims by the United States Congress, codified in 25 U.S.C. ch. 19.In several instances, these settlements ended live claims of aboriginal title in the United States...
passed by the United States Congress in 1983. The settlement act ended a lawsuit by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe
The Mashantucket Pequot are a small Native American tribal nation of the Algonquian language community in the state of Connecticut. Within the tribe's Reservation, in Ledyard, New London County, Connecticut, the Mashantucket Pequot operate Foxwoods Resort Casino, the world's largest resort...
to recover 800 acres of their 1666 reservation in Ledyard, Connecticut
Ledyard, Connecticut
As of the census of 2000, there were 14,687 people, 5,286 households, and 4,101 families residing in the town. The population density was 385.1 people per square mile . There were 5,486 housing units at an average density of 143.8 per square mile...
, sold in 1855, allegedly in violation of the Nonintercourse Act.
The settlement act appropriated $900,000 to buy the disputed lands and transferred those lands and the state reservation to the federal government in trust. The settlement act permits the state of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
to exercise civil and criminal, but not regulatory, jurisdiction over the lands. This laid the foundation for the Mashantucket Pequot to create the Foxwoods Resort Casino
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel-casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States. Together with the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, it is one of the largest casino complexes in the world in terms of floor space for gaming. The entire resort comprises of space. The casino has over 380 gaming tables...
, the largest casino in the world by revenue and floor space, and the most profitable.
Background
The Pequot WarPequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
(1634—1638) all but exterminated the Pequots, dividing the captives up between the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes who had allied with the settlers. In 1651, John Winthrop the Younger persuaded the Connecticut Colony
Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English...
to create a 500 acre reservation for the Pequots in Noank, removing them from their previous places of residence. In 1666, the Connecticut General Assembly voted to create a 2,000 acre reservation for the "western" Pequots (the group previously in the custody of the Mohegans) in Ledyard, Connecticut
Ledyard, Connecticut
As of the census of 2000, there were 14,687 people, 5,286 households, and 4,101 families residing in the town. The population density was 385.1 people per square mile . There were 5,486 housing units at an average density of 143.8 per square mile...
; the eastern Pequots were given 280 acres in present-day North Stonington, Connecticut
North Stonington, Connecticut
North Stonington is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,991 at the 2000 census. North Stonington was split off from Stonington in 1724.-Geography:...
. By 1790 (the year that Congress passed the first Nonintercourse Act), the reservation was only 1,000 acres. In 1855, Connecticut sold 800 of the remaining acres at $10/acre, putting the money into a state administered trust account for the Pequots.
In the 1970s, David Crosby of Pine Tree Legal Assistance, a non-profit law firm that was then litigating Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton
Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton
Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton, 528 F.2d 370 , was a landmark decision regarding aboriginal title in the United States...
in Maine, arrived on the Pequot reservation to discuss the possibility of a land claim. Advised by Crosby, the Pequots established a non-profit corporation—Western Pequot Indians of Connecticut, Inc.—in 1974. In April 1975, Crosby finished his research and presented his findings to the Pequots.
Litigation
The Pequots filed suit in May 1976 in the United States District Court for the District of ConnecticutUnited States District Court for the District of Connecticut
The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven. Appeals from the court are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...
. The case was assigned to Judge Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld
Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld
Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld was a United States federal judge who served as chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut....
. The named plaintiffs were the Western Pequot Tribe and Richard "Skip" Hawyard
Richard Arthur Hayward
Richard Arthur Hayward, also known as Skip Hayward, was the tribal chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe for 23 years, from 1975, when the first election was held, until November 1, 1998. He was replaced by Kenneth M. Reels. Before becoming the tribal chairman, he worked as a pipefitter and...
(the leader of the Pequot tribe); among the named defendants were Holdridge Enterprises and its president, David Holdridge. The 800-acre claim embraced only about a dozen to thirty-five landowner defendants. The state of Connecticut was not sued, and declined requests from the defendants to become involved in the litigation.
One of the lawyers for the defendants was Jackson King, a partner at Jacobson, Jewett & Laudone. King was first in his class at University of Connecticut School of Law
University of Connecticut School of Law
The University of Connecticut School of Law is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. The school was recently ranked forty-sixth out of the 190 American Bar Association-accredited law schools in the United States and is considered a Tier 1 school by U.S...
and became involved in the case when one of the named defendants, who had served with him on a local land conservation commission, called him.
Federal recognition
HUDThe Pequots pursued federal recognition in parallel with their land claims litigation. They applied to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
to participate in HUD's Indian housing assistance program. In March 1976, Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso certified to HUD that the Pequots were 'an autonomous unit or government" for the purposes of the revenue sharing program. At this time, there were thirty-two tribal members.
BIA
On January 15, 1979, the Pequots filed a preliminary petition for federal tribal recognition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
(BIA). Historian Jack Campisi, who had previously worked as an expert witness with attorney Tom Tureen
Tom Tureen
Thomas Norton Tureen is a prominent American lawyer, known for his work with Native American tribes and the Native American Rights Fund pioneering the use of the Nonintercourse Act to challenge post-1790 acquisitions of Native American lands by state governments without federal approval.Tureen...
, authored the petition. The Pequots did not submit a full recognition application to the BIA until mid-1983.
Settlement Act
With the passage of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act in 1980, attorney Tom Tureen
Tom Tureen
Thomas Norton Tureen is a prominent American lawyer, known for his work with Native American tribes and the Native American Rights Fund pioneering the use of the Nonintercourse Act to challenge post-1790 acquisitions of Native American lands by state governments without federal approval.Tureen...
turned his attention to the Mashantucket Pequot case.
In October 1981, Tureen approached King regarding a federally legislated settlement. Tureen proposed that the state of Connecticut turn over the reservation to the federal government, and that the federal government pay the property owners fair market value and include their land in the federal reservation. As part of the deal, the state would retain criminal and civil legal authority of the reservation, but not regulatory authority. The state approved the settlement in June 1982.
The federal settlement bill included a $900,000 appropriation, the appraisal value of the 800 acres, which the Pequots would use to buy the land from the landowner defendants. The legislation also provided that the landowners would not have to pay capital gains tax as long as they reinvested the money in real estate.
Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
Lowell Palmer Weicker, Jr. is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the 85th Governor of Connecticut, and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for President in 1980...
(R-CT) delivered the draft bill to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Peter Taylor, the committee's general counsel noticed that the bill did not limit the amount or location of the lands that the Pequots could buy with the settlement funds. Tureen and King prepared a map in accordance with Taylor's wishes.
Senator William Cohen
William Cohen
William Sebastian Cohen is an author and American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton.-Early life and education:...
(R-ME), the chairman of the committee, began hearings on July 14, 1982. William Coldiron, the solicitor general of the Department of the Interior, testified against the bill, which he viewed as circumventing the BIA's recognition process and spending too much money. Cohen criticized Coldiron for not knowing enough about the Pequots. Representative Sam Gejdenson
Sam Gejdenson
Samuel "Sam" Gejdenson is a former United States Representative for the 2nd Congressional District of Connecticut.Born in a displaced persons camp in Eschwege, Germany, Gejdenson was the child of a Belarussian father and Lithuanian mother. Gejdenson grew up in Bozrah, Connecticut on a dairy farm...
(D-CT) also supported the bill.
The House passed the bill, H.R. 6612, on October 1, 1982, and the Senate passed a different version on December 21. The compromise version was passed by the Senate on February 24, 1982 by voice vote
Voice vote
A voice vote is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally....
, and the House on March 22. However, President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
vetoed the bill, opining that the state should pay more of the cost and that the Pequots may not meet the BIA's definition of a tribe. Tureen, King, Hayward, and Sandy Cadwalader of the Indian Rights Association
Indian Rights Association
The Indian Rights Association was an American social activist group dedicated to the well being and acculturation of Native Americans...
began lobbying for a veto override. Once 67 Senators had committed to voting for the bill, enough for what would have been the first veto override of Reagan's presidency, a compromise was proposed whereby Connecticut would contribute $200,000 of road improvements (which became known as "the veto road").
At a new set of hearings in July 1983, assistant secretary for Indian affairs, John W. Fritz, declared that the administration would not object to the new bill. Reagan signed the new bill, S. 1499, into law on October 18, 1983. Since 1983, the Mashuntucket Pequots have appeared on every list of federally recognized tribes published by the Department of the Interior in the Federal Register
Federal Register
The Federal Register , abbreviated FR, or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains most routine publications and public notices of government agencies...
.
Aftermath
On April 30, 1984, the Pequot corporate body voted 12-1 with two abstentions to approve the construction of a high-stakes bingo operation. Barry Margolin, Tureen's law partner, took the lead in representing the Pequots in this matter. After Connecticut's chief state criminal attorney wrote the tribe a letter threatening to shut down the bingo operation if opened as planned, the Pequots filed for a federal preliminary injunction, which Judge Peter C. Dorsey (who, as a magistrate, had ruled favorably for the Pequots in their land claim) granted. Dorsey granted a permanent injunction on January 9, 1986, holding that Connecticut's bingo laws did not apply to the reservation. The bingo hall opened on July 5, 1986.
Cabazon Band and the IGRA
The Supreme Court's decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987) fueled the Pequot's desire to upgrade their bingo hall to a full casino. In the wake of that decision, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act...
(IGRA) on October 17, 1988. Tureen and Margolin concluded that the IGRA required Connecticut to negotiate a tribal-state compact with the Pequot in good faith because of a state statute that permitted non-profits, with a state license, to hold "Las Vegas nights" twice a year. The state statute in question had been lobbied for by Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a non-profit organization in the United States that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and overall push for stricter alcohol policy...
(MADD) in 1987. At the request of Governor O'Neill, acting state attorney general Clarine Riddle prepared a memorandum highlighting the differences between high school students playing casino games for monopoly money and a full-scale, for-profit casino, and O'Neill denied the request.
Foxwoods
When the state failed to negotiate, on November 3, 1989, the tribe sued the state under a provision of the IGRA—subsequently declared unconstitutional in Seminole Tribe v. Florida
Seminole Tribe v. Florida
Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 , was a United States Supreme Court case which held that Article One of the U.S. Constitution did not give the United States Congress the power to abrogate the sovereign immunity of the states that is further protected under the Eleventh Amendment...
(1996)—that permitted such suits if state did not negotiate in good faith within 180 days. The case was docketed again before Judge Dorsey. Dorsey granted the tribe summary judgment in May 1990, ordering the state to resume negotiations and conclude a compact within 60 days. The Second Circuit upheld Dorsey's ruling on September 4, 1990. The compact was forwarded to Secretary of Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr. on October 1990 for his approval. On April 22, 1991, the Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari
Certiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
to the state's appeal from the Second Circuit's ruling.
Former Senator Weicker replaced O'Neil as governor in January 1991. Weicker was opposed to gambling, and was advised that repealing the "Las Vegas night" statute was the only way to avoid a Pequot casino. Moreover, Weicker would have had to repeal the law before Secretary Lujan gave final approval to the compact. The Pequots retained lobbyists, reached out to charity groups that utilized the "Las Vegas night" statute, and brought in Native American Rights Fund
Native American Rights Fund
The Native American Rights Fund, also known as NARF, is a non-profit organization that uses existing laws and treaties to ensure that state governments and the national government live up to their legal obligations...
executive director John Echohawk to defeat Weicker's proposed bill. Weicker's bill prevailed by 18-17 with one absent in the state senate. However, the House rejected the bill by more than 20 votes. Secretary Lujan approved the compact on May 31, 1991.
The Pequots signed a financing agreement with Malaysian partners on February 25, 1991 for the construction of Foxwoods Resort Casino
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel-casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States. Together with the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, it is one of the largest casino complexes in the world in terms of floor space for gaming. The entire resort comprises of space. The casino has over 380 gaming tables...
. Foxwoods opened on February 12, 1992. That year, even though slot machines had yet to be installed, the 245-member Pequot tribe saw $148M in revenue and $51M in profit from Foxwoods. Threatened with the possibility of competition from non-Indian gambling, the Pequots offered the state a share of slot machine revenue in October 1992 (if slot machine gambling were to be legalized in the state, the revenue sharing would cease; the issue of slot machines had been left for the courts in the original compact. On January 13, 1993, the tribe and state announced a deal that would give the state 25% of gross slot machine revenue, guaranteeing at least $100M/year. By 1998, Foxwoods was generating $1B in revenue and $152M in net income for the tribe.
Reservation expansion
Starting in 1993, the Pequot began negotiations to purchase additional lands and convey those lands to the Department of Interior in trust under the Indian Reorganization Act
Indian Reorganization Act
The Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 the Indian New Deal, was U.S. federal legislation that secured certain rights to Native Americans, including Alaska Natives...
(1934); local towns sued the tribes to prevent this. In 1996 and 1998, Interior Department, under Secretary Bruce Babbitt
Bruce Babbitt
Bruce Edward Babbitt , a Democrat, served as United States Secretary of the Interior and as the 16th governor of Arizona, from 1978 to 1987.-Biography:...
, approved the tribe's request to put 165 and 146 acre (0.59084156 km²), respectively, into trust. The Supreme Court's decision in Carcieri v. Salazar
Carcieri v. Salazar
Carcieri v. Salazar, No. 07-526 , was a recent case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the term "now under Federal jurisdiction" referred only to tribes that were federally recognized when the Indian Reorganization Act became law, and the federal government could not take...
(2009) prevents any further similar transfers.