Free Republic

AUBURN NY--A federal Department of Interior official said the U.S. Supreme Court's city of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation decision applies to the Cayuga Nation's purchase of land within their land claim area on the open market. Based on the Sherrill decision, when taxes are not paid, the Cayuga Nation's property would be subject to foreclosure, Associate Deputy Secretary James Carson wrote in a Sept. 22 letter to U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford. Boehlert had contacted the department of behalf of Seneca County attorney Steven Getman. Carson wrote that questions about the legality of the tribe's bingo halls in...

The US Supreme Court has announced it will not hear an appeal of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling throwing out the Cayuga land claim. Seneca County Attorney Steven Getman says the ruling means the end of the more than two decade old land claim. The Cayuga and Seneca-Cayuga Indians had asked the Supreme Court to review the lower court ruling, saying the Appeals Court incorrectly cited the Sherill case involving the Oneida Indians in throwing out the quarter billion dollars awarded the Indians. The focus of the battle between the Indians and governments in Seneca and Cayuga Counties...

WATERLOO, N.Y. --New York state has agreed to pay most of the legal fees incurred by counties in opposing Indian efforts to put land into federal trusts. Seneca County had been seeking reimbursement from the state since the trust process began a year ago. The state originally refused to pay, citing an opinion by the state attorney general's office. However, Seneca County Attorney Steven Getman said Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said this week that state law allowed reimbursement to counties for legal costs associated with defending the claims. Getman said the state agreed to pay both future costs and approximately...