Everyone milled about anxiously, waiting with bated breath to hear if today would be the day that the Supreme Court handed down their decision on ObamaCare, or perhaps Arizona’s law regarding illegal aliens.  But alas, it was not to be.  With a giant exhale on the order of the massive toilet flush after the last episode of M*A*S*H (yes, that epic flush really did drop a reservoir 27 feet), the disappointed court-watchers went home to wait until Thursday, the next round of breath-bating.

That means they missed something kind of important.  Rather, it is something important if you live in a state that has Indian tribes.

The case is Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak.  One Mr. David Patchak claimed that turning what is known as the Bradley Tract, in Wayland township, Michigan, into an Indian casino would result in economic, environmental, and aesthetic harm.  The tribe’s and the government’s defense was that the provisions of the Indian Relocation Act barred lawsuits intended to prevent putting land in trust and its ultimate development.  The Supreme Court held that the Department of the Interior cannot take land into the reservation system without considering its intended end use, and any objections to that use.  read more »