Court Guts Hennessy and Townsend’s Challenges to Oneida Trust Land

Legislators urged reliance upon failed lawsuit to reject $55 million County-Nation deal

(Oneida Nation Homelands) Highly publicized legal challenges by Assemblyman David Townsend, Oneida County Legislator Michael J. Hennessy and the Central NY Fair Business Association to the May 2008 decision by the U.S. Department of Interior taking take 13,000 acres of land into trust for the benefit of the Oneida Indian Nation were dealt a severe blow in a March 1 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn.

The federal court upheld the constitutionality of trust land in New York State, reaffirmed that the Oneida reservation was never disestablished, rejected challenges to the legality of gaming at Turning Stone, denied challenges to the DOI’s transfer of the 18 acre “Verona test site” parcel into trust, and dropped all claims against Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter.

Hennessy and Townsend touted the merits of their claims in May 2009, when they urged Oneida County legislators to reject the $55 million Oneida County Partnership Plan. Hennessy and Townsend claimed that the County would fare better in the claims that now have been dismissed.

“Although the preferred outcome was a negotiated resolution, Oneida County’s legislature became convinced it could fare better in the litigation,” stated Mark Emery, director of media relations for the Oneida Nation. “In the absence of a resolution, the Nation obviously is very pleased with this ruling, as it moves the trust land challenges significantly closer to closure.”

The federal court granted the United States Department of Justice’s and Oneida Nation’s motions to dismiss several of Hennessy and Townsend’s challenges, ruling as follows:

1. rejected Hennessy and Townsend’s claims that the law authorizing the Department of Interior to take land into trust for the benefit of the Oneida Indian Nation is unconstitutional, citing numerous previous federal rulings that already had rejected those claims;

2. reaffirmed that the Oneida Nation’s 300,000 acre reservation was never disestablished;

3. rejected claims that gaming at Turning Stone is being conducted illegally on non-Indian lands;

4. upheld the Department of Interior’s acceptance into trust for the Oneida Nation’s benefit the 18 acre Verona annex to the Griffiss Air Force Base, finding that the 18 acre transfer does not inflict “any harm upon a legally protected interest” of Hennessy or Townsend;

5. dismissed Hennessy and Townsend’s allegations that the Department of Interior’s acceptance of land into trust was racially discriminatory; and

6. rejected Hennessy and Townsend’s challenges to the Department of Interior’s 9- volume Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

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Court Guts Hennessy and Townsend’s Challenges to Oneida Trust Land

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