US Supreme Court sides with Tigua Tribe over the state of Texas
Potentially ends a legal conflict forty years in the making.
A long-running debate over tribal rights in Texas has finally come to a conclusion after the US Supreme Court decided in favor of the Tigua Tribe. As a result of the ruling, the tribe is now allowed to offer electronic bingo games on its land.
The legal debate stretches back to the early 1980s, and the tribe hopes that the issue has been put to rest by the 5-4 ruling of the high court.
The Tigua Tribe is more formally known under the name the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Reservation.
The decision reasoned that federal law allows tribal entities the right to operate gaming on their reservations so long as they are not banned in the state at large. Bingo, indeed, is permitted in Texas.
This ruling follows a federal approach to tribal gaming that has been practiced across the nation since Congress began allowing tribal gaming in 1988.
According to the El Paso Times, attorney for the Tiguas, Brant Martin, commented that, “vindication offered with the opinion handed down, and the fact the court agreed with our interpretation of the Restoration Act.
“We look forward to continuing the litigation in the lower courts under the guidance provided by the opinion.”
No comments were forthcoming from the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
In his majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: “In this case, Texas contends that Congress expressly ordained that all of its gaming laws should be treated as surrogate federal law enforceable on the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Reservation.
“In the end, however, we find no evidence Congress endowed state lawn with anything like the power Texas claims.”
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