Maine’s top court declines tribal gaming question

The court said that it doesn’t consider the issue “of serious and immediate nature”.

US.- Maine’s Supreme Court issued an opinion on a question propounded by the House of Representatives regarding the status of tribal gaming and the permission to conduct such activities without permission from the state.

The highest court received a question that said: “Does the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians… allow the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, a federally recognized Indian Tribe, to conduct gambling on tribal trust land without permission to do so from the state?”

However, the court said that while it received briefs from several parties involved, it did not receive one from the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court said that when the body redirecting a question doesn’t provide more information that would justify their consideration of a propounded question, they determine that the question is not “a serious and immediate nature.”

While a 1988 federal law allows states to set gambling rules, there have been several legislative attempts at granting gaming facilities to tribes but all have been defeated. There are currently two private casinos running in Maine, and arguments against tribal gaming revolve around the fact that the state doesn’t have gaming rules for development.