David Patchak’s long series of lawsuits against 
the Gun Lake Casino finally may be at an end.
A federal appeals court ruled unanimously Friday that the U.S. Congress had the power to ratify land-into-trust acquisitions, upholding the legality of the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act.
The law confirmed that land placed in trust for the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, is Indian Country, halting a long-running lawsuit that claimed otherwise.
“Congress made a considered determination to ratify the Department of the Interior’s decision to take the Bradley property into trust for the Gun Lake Tribe, and further to remove any potential impediments to the finality of that decision,” Judge Robert L. Wilkins wrote for the court.
Patchak for a long time has challenged the existence of the Gun Lake Casino, maintaining it was improper to take U.S. land into a trust as tribal property, clearing the way for the casino to operate.
The ruling came two months after oral arguments and a year after Patchak, who lives within three miles of the casino, appealed the court’s dismissal of his objections.
The decision marks the first time that a land-into-trust law has been upheld in the court system.
Spearheaded by U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow Congress (D-Michigan) passed S.1603, the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act, in September 2014 to confirm the legality of the Gun Lake Casino.
In dimisssing the case last year, Judge Richard J. Leon upheld the constitutionality of the new law. Patchak’s attorney, Sharon Eubanks, appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for the second time since 2008.
At least three different law firms have handled the case since 2008. Now it will become four because Eubanks has left Edwards Kirby, a firm started by former presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (D-North Carolina).
The Gun Lake Casino opened in February 2011. The Tribe has asserted the facility has put 800 people to work and has brought more than $80 million in revenue to the local community.
