Shinnecock Indian Nation

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U.S attorney seeks to be removed from case

May 26, 2004
BY ANN GIVENS
HAMPTON BAYS

The U.S. attorney's office wants out of a New York State lawsuit that seeks to prevent the Shinnecock Indian Nation from building a casino in Hampton Bays. And it will not reconsider.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Thomas Platt, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Mulry said he will not reconsider asking to be dismissed from the case as an "involuntary plaintiff."

Platt has said that he will decide whether the Shinnecocks have a sovereign right to run a casino on their land - a decision usually made by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. But he said it's important that the federal government takes part in the case as an involuntary plaintiff.

Mulry asked to be removed from the case because he said the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is the proper agency to decide whether the Shinnecocks can open a casino, not the court, a decision that Platt then asked him to reconsider. Mulry said it would not be right to allow the Shinnecocks to bypass the bureau's federal recognition process while forcing other tribes to wait for a decision.