The Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal appeals court on Friday revived a lawsuit filed by one Native American tribe over another’s construction of a casino on what they said is historic and sacred land.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a judge’s decision that dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Oklahoma-based Muscogee (Creek) Nation over the constriction of the casino in Alabama. The three-judge panel directed the trial judge to do a “claim by claim” analysis of whether officials with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama have sovereign immunity that would prevent them from being sued.
The long-running dispute involves land, known as Hickory Ground, that was home to the Muscogee Nation people before their removal to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. The Poarch Band, a separate tribal nation that shares ancestry with the Muscogee, now owns the land and built one of its Wind Creek casinos on the site. The Muscogee Nation filed a lawsuit against Poarch officials, the Department of the Interior and others over the excavation of graves and development of the site.
David Hill, principal chief of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, called the decision a monumental victory for the tribe.
“The Eleventh Circuit’s decision reaffirms our Nation’s sacred and historical ties to Hickory Ground, while also affirming our sovereign right to seek justice against federal agencies and other entities that violated the laws protecting this sacred land,” Hill said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the Poarch Band said in a statement that the appellate court is simply seeking additional information.
“As the case returns to the District Court, we remain confident in our position. Our focus continues to be on protecting the interests of the Poarch Creek community and upholding our sovereign rights,” Kristin Hellmich, a spokeswoman for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, wrote in an emailed statement.
The Muscogee Nation argued that Poarch tribal officials broke a legal promise to protect the site when they purchased it from a private landowner in 1980 with the help of a historic preservation grant. Mary Kathryn Nagle, an attorney for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, said in a statement that the ruling demonstrates that tribal sovereignty “is not a license to destroy the sacred places and graves of other sovereign tribal nations.”
The Poarch Band maintains that it too has ancestral ties to Hickory Ground and that they protected the site by setting aside the ceremonial ground and another 17 acres for permanent preservation. The Poarch Band, in an earlier statement, called the case an attack on their tribal sovereignty and likened the dispute “to Alabama plotting to control land in Georgia.”
The decision was handed down about two weeks after oral arguments in the case in Atlanta.
The Muscogee Nation lead a march to Justice through downtown Atlanta last month, leading up to the courthouse where the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately vacated the District Court’s initial ruling to dismiss the suit.
The Poarch Tribe is described as a tribe descending from Muscogee people who lived in the area before forced relocation to Oklahoma. The Poarch Tribe gained federal recognition in 1984.
The Muscogee Nation’s claims are also against the Department of the Interior for giving the Poarch band federal recognition, as well as the National Park Service and Auburn University in Alabama, for their respective parts in exhuming 57 human remains and 7,000 funerary objects from Hickory Ground.
“Poarch argued that we shouldn’t be able to seek repatriation of our ancestors from Auburn University,” said Mekko George Thompson, ceremonial leader Hickory Ground.“The Eleventh Circuit ruled otherwise, and now we will finally have our day in court. We will not rest until all our ancestors, stored in plastic bins and boxes, are returned to us for reburial in accordance with Mvskoke law and tradition.”
Robert McGhee, Poarch Creek Indian tribal vice chair and chief government relations and public affairs officer, told an ICT and Tulsa World reporter that no remains are in storage in Auburn University, and that “all of the remains in the Poarch Creek Indians’ possession have been reinterred.”
This statement contradicted a brief submitted to the 11th Circuit by Auburn University that stated the school currently has “possession of certain of these historical items.”
With the case now returning to the District Court, the Muscogee Nation will amend its complaint, demanding the return of the remains and items to the tribe.
“The fight is far from over, but this decision ensures we will finally have our day in court,” said Mary Kathryn Nagle, counsel for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
ICT and Tulsa World reporter Felix Clary contributed to this report.
