Babbitt told Indian leaders that he expected to be challenged in court ''by unhappy people on all sides,'' including governors. The National Governors Association this week approved a resolution saying that Babbitt had overstepped his authority. The plan ''would permit the secretary to overrule any state's interpretation of its own laws, even to conclude that the final decision of a state supreme court was erroneous,'' the resolution said. Tribes wanting to offer more gambling than their states will permit have been without recourse since the Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that states were immune to tribal lawsuits.
Federal law requires states to negotiate agreements with tribes to set rules and limits on gambling.
Several states have refused to reach such deals, however, arguing that tribes wanted to have slot machines and other devices banned by state laws. Babbitt's plan would allow him to impose settlements on states. The courts are not speaking very clearly on this issue,'' Babbitt told members of the National Congress of American Indians. Babbitt, who was warmly received by the group, repeated his pledge to fight charges that he lied to Congress about his 1995 rejection of a Indian casino in Wisconsin that was opposed by rival tribes. Attorney General Janet Reno has asked for an independent counsel to investigate the allegations.