Carcieri v. Norton, No. 03-2647, affirms a grant of summary judgment in favor of the Secretary of the Interior who took “into trust a 31-acre parcel of land located in Charlestown, Rhode Island for the benefit of the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island” under 25 U.S.C. § 465. The court reads the statute as providing the Secretary with the power to take into trust lands on behalf of any recognized Indian Tribe regardless of the status of its acknowledgment in 1934, when the statute was passed. Likewise, nondelegation, 10th amendment, “Indian Commerce Clause” and “Enclave clause,” and “admissions clause” challenges to 25 U.S.C. § 465 also fail. Construing the Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act (25 U.S.C. §§ 1705, 1712, and 1707), the court holds that when the secretary does take things into trust, the trust may be “may be "unrestricted," thus removing the land from the criminal and civil jurisdiction of Rhode Island.” Judge Howard dissents from this last part.
See our earlier coverage of this issue here.
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