WASHINGTON, D.C - The Gun Lake Tribe leaders were celebrating on Tuesday, Feb. 27 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a neighbor's longstanding challenge to the tribe's autonomy over 147 acres on which the Gun Lake Casino has been built.
In a 6-3 ruling, the high court ruled against David Patchak, a former Wayland Township trustee and nearby landowner who argued that a 2014 law that opened the door for the casino violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers.
The high court ruled that Congress was within its powers to adopt the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act. The act effectively short-circuited Patchak's legal challenge to the land trust that allowed for the casino.
"This decision ends a decades-long struggle and ensures the tribe can carry on our elders' vision for growth and self-sufficiency," said Scott Sprague, chairman of the Gun Lake Tribe, formally known as the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians.
"We are thankful the Supreme Court upheld the many lower court decisions in favor of the tribe. This is a significant development for not only the tribe, but also all of Indian Country," Sprague said in a statement.
While the court appeared sympathetic to Patchak, it was not going along with his argument that Congress had violated the separation of powers.
"We understand why Patchak would view the Gun Lake Act as unfair," the Supreme Court said in a ruling written by Justice Clarence Thomas.
"By all accounts, the band exercised its political influence to persuade Congress to enact a narrow jurisdiction-stripping provision that effectively ends all lawsuits threatening its casino, including Patchak's."
But the question is "not favoritism, nor even corruption, but power," the ruling said.
The ruling came after a second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court by Patchak and his unnamed benefactors who opposed the casino at the Bradley exit of U.S. 131, halfway between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids.
Despite Patchak's lawsuits, the Gun Lake Tribe opened the casino in 2011 and now employs more than 1,000.
The tribe now owns about 600 acres in Wayland Township and has shared more than $100 million with state and local governments in the past seven years.
Last year, the casino completed the second phase of a $76 million expansion project, which includes a "high-limit" room with slots and table games and a new bar. Construction is underway on a five-story parking deck that will include 1,200 parking spaces, and four covered-floors.
Attempts to reach Patchak for comment by telephone were unsuccessful after the ruling was announced.