{"id":905,"date":"2025-05-25T12:39:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T12:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=905"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:10:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:10:32","slug":"judge-vallejo-casino-halt-may-not-equal-harm-to-scotts-valley-band-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/25\/judge-vallejo-casino-halt-may-not-equal-harm-to-scotts-valley-band-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge: Vallejo Casino Halt May Not Equal \u2018Harm\u2019 to Scotts Valley Band \u2013 Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Tribe seeks to stop federal review of casino project<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Judge questions urgency but flags possible agency overreach<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Rival tribes challenge ancestral claim to Vallejo land<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>A federal judge In Washington D.C. appeared to agree with the U.S. government\u2019s argument Friday that a California tribe had not been \u201cirreparably harmed\u201d by a US Interior Department\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vallejo-casino-hits-snag-as-doi-to-reconsider-scotts-valley-decision\/\">decision to review<\/a> its gaming eligibility for a Bay Area casino resort.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_353106\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-353106\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-353106 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Scotts Valley Band, Vallejo casino project, tribal gaming eligibility, Interior Department review, Indian Gaming Regulatory Act\" width=\"858\" height=\"536\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Scotts-Valley-858x536-1.jpg\"><figcaption>A digital rendering of the proposed Scotts Valley casino in Vallejo, Calif. The project has been jeopardized by the Trump administration\u2019s decision to review the tribe\u2019s gaming eligibility. (Image: Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians has spent nearly a decade pushing to build a $700 million casino resort in Vallejo, Calif. The tribe believed the project was finally a go after the outgoing administration approved its trust land application <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/feds-approve-controversial-scotts-valley-pomo-coquille-tribal-casinos\/\">on January 10, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In March, the new administration put the decision on hold pending legal analysis of whether the land qualified for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Where\u2019s the Harm?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Scotts Valley Band <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scotts-valley-pomo-sue-doi-over-vallejo-casino-roadblock\/\">filed suit<\/a> against the Interior Department, seeking an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt the agency\u2019s reconsideration and reinstate its gaming eligibility. The tribe argued it would suffer irreparable harm and emphasized that the Biden administration\u2019s original determination followed years of extensive administrative review and litigation.<\/p>\n<p>During opening arguments on Friday, the government claimed that the tribe has not yet been truly \u201charmed\u201d because its gaming eligibility hasn\u2019t been revoked, merely put on hold while the agency reconsiders. Since the agency hasn\u2019t made a final decision, there\u2019s no legal \u201cinjury\u201d yet, argued Kristofor Swanson of the U.S. Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Trevor McFadden agreed with the DOJ that it\u2019s hard to see urgent damage if the tribe\u2019s casino project is still years from completion.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Your irreparable harm claim is a tough one to make,\u201d he said, as reported by Law360.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>However, McFadden appeared troubled that the Interior might not have properly considered the tribe\u2019s financial and legal reliance on the January approval.<\/p>\n<p>If true, that could make the agency\u2019s actions \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d under the Administrative Procedure Act \u2014 a legal standard courts use to strike down flawed agency decisions.<\/p>\n<p>The tribe has authorized $1.8 million in expenditure connected to the casino project since the January approval, according to its lawsuit.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>COLT on Board with Scotts Valley<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The casino project has sparked controversy, in part because it faces opposition from California Governor Gavin Newsom and several local Patwin tribes. These tribes challenge the Scotts Valley Band\u2019s ancestral ties to the proposed site \u2014 a key requirement for gaming eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation filed lawsuits against the Interior Department just days before the agency chose to revisit its decision. They argue that the land in question has historically belonged to the Patwin people and dispute the Scotts Valley Band\u2019s claimed lineage to the area.<\/p>\n<p>But last week, the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT), a national tribal organization representing the interests of more than 50 federally recognized Native American tribes, filed an amicus brief to the court in support of the Scotts Valley Band.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>While other tribal organizations might be reticent to say and do the right thing here\u2014supporting Scotts Valley\u2014because other powerful tribal casino interests don\u2019t want the competition that might arise from Scotts Valley exercising its sovereignty and gaming (just as they do)\u2014COLT has no such misgivings. COLT is always willing to speak truth to power,\u201d wrote Hon. Marvin Weatherwax, Chairman of the Blackfeet Nation, in a letter accompanying the brief.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhat happens in one land-into-trust decision can impact all others across the country,\u201d reads the amicus brief. \u201cThe bests interests of all of Indian Country are served by keeping politics out of those processes, strictly following the law, and acting consistently with the Department\u2019s many strong supporting tribes\u2019 self-determination, including the finality of the land-into-trust process following publication in the Federal Register.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-vallejo-casino-halt-may-not-equal-harm-to-scotts-valley-band-yet\/\">Judge: Vallejo Casino Halt May Not Equal &#8216;Harm&#8217; to Scotts Valley Band \u2013 Yet<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tribe seeks to stop federal review of casino project Judge questions urgency but flags possible agency overreach Rival tribes challenge ancestral claim to Vallejo land A federal judge In Washington D.C. appeared to agree with the U.S. government\u2019s argument Friday that a California tribe had not been \u201cirreparably harmed\u201d by a US Interior Department\u2019s decision to review its gaming eligibility [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=905"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":908,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions\/908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}