A federal judge in Washington has refused to reconsider his decision rejecting an effort by local residents to block the U.S. Department of the Interior from granting federal recognition to California’s Ione Band of Miwok Indians as the tribe moves closer to opening a casino.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued a brief order on Friday denying a motion for reconsideration filed by Plymouth, California, residents Dueward W. Cranford II, Jon Colburn, and William P. Braun, along with the nonprofit Citizens Equal Rights Alliance Inc. The plaintiffs had argued that the Interior Department was deliberately delaying court proceedings to allow construction of the Ione Band’s Acorn Ridge Casino to be completed and gambling operations to begin as early as spring.
Judge Sullivan found the residents failed to meet the legal standards required for reconsideration under either Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), which allows revisions of certain rulings before final judgment, or Rule 59(e), which permits a party to seek changes to a judgment within 28 days.
The ruling leaves intact the judge’s December 12 decision denying the residents’ request for emergency relief that would have blocked federal recognition of the tribe. At the time, Judge Sullivan concluded the plaintiffs had not shown that “immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage” would occur before the government could respond.
In his latest order, the judge also rejected the residents’ claim that the court should have treated their request as a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction based on developments since their earlier filing. He said they failed to show the presence of new or material information that would justify such a step.
Federal agencies urged the court on December 31 to deny the reconsideration request, arguing it relied on no new evidence and identified no clear error in the court’s earlier ruling. Citing a 1996 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Judge Sullivan noted that motions under Rule 59(e) are disfavored and require extraordinary circumstances, which the plaintiffs did not establish.
The lawsuit, filed in April, alleges that the federal government improperly approved the Ione Band’s federal recognition, land-into-trust application, and gaming approvals. The plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the federal trust relationship with Indigenous nations and oppose the Interior Department’s decision to place 228 acres in Amador County into trust for the casino project.
The residents argue they live near the proposed development and fear the project will overwhelm the only access road to their properties, a narrow county route that also serves as a commuter corridor for the city of Plymouth.
“To maintain the constitutional structural balance and keep our constitutional rights as Americans, we must end the Indian trust,” the plaintiffs told the court, asserting that the federal government is exercising powers not granted under the Constitution.
The government sharply rejected those claims, calling them unfounded. In its December 31 filing, it said the plaintiffs’ arguments amounted to “bizarre conspiracy theories,” including allegations that routine litigation extensions allowed an unconstitutional scheme to continue while casino construction proceeded.
Attorneys for the residents and Citizens Equal Rights Alliance did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Representatives for the federal government and the Ione Band of Miwok Indians also did not respond.
The ruling allows the Interior Department’s recognition decision and related approvals to stand as construction of the Acorn Ridge Casino continues.
