Opinion ID: 3152784
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Acquisition of Land and Trust Application

Text: In August 2003, the Nation purchased 135 acres of unincorporated land within Maricopa County, Arizona (the Replacement Lands) for $13.8 million. The Replacement Lands are wholly located in an unincorporated “county TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION V. STATE OF ARIZONA 7 island,” surrounded on all sides by land incorporated within the City of Glendale (the City), and include, among other properties, a 54-acre portion known as Parcel 2. On January 28, 2009, the Nation filed an application with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, requesting that the Replacement Lands be taken into trust pursuant to the Act. At the same time, the Nation publicly revealed its plan to build a casino on Parcel 2 of the Replacement Lands pursuant to the authority of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 27012721 (IGRA). Pursuant to the IGRA, gaming activities may only take place on land that is part of an Indian reservation. Thus, having at least some portion of the Replacement Land held in trust—which transforms the land into tribal land—is a precondition to the Nation’s conducting gaming operations on that portion of the land. On March 12, 2010, as a result of an ongoing state-court action, the Nation modified its application to request that only Parcel 2 of the Replacement Lands be taken into trust, and that the Department of the Interior hold in abeyance the rest of the Nation’s application for the transfer of the Replacement Lands. On July 23, 2010, the Secretary determined that Parcel 2 satisfied all the legal requirements of the Act, and that taking Parcel 2 into trust was mandatory. The Secretary adopted the position that, under Arizona law, the Replacement Lands are not part of the City because they are not within the City’s “corporate limits.” He expressly concluded that Parcel 2 is not “within the corporate limits of any city or town” based on the plain and jurisdictional meaning of “corporate limits” under the Act. The Secretary also agreed that the trust application concerning the remaining portions of the Replacement Lands would be held in abeyance, pending a new request by the Nation. The Secretary published notice of 8 TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION V. STATE OF ARIZONA his decision on August 26, 2010. 75 Fed. Reg. 52,550. He was then permitted to take Parcel 2 into trust 30 days after publication of notice of his decision. See 25 C.F.R. § 151.12(b).