Courts rule on Kickapoo casino case

TEXAS -- As reported by the East Texas Weekly: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the Secretary of the Interior has no power to allow gambling, in this case the Kickapoo Indian Reservation, over the objection of the state. The decision is a victory for Texas in the latest round of litigation designed to keep casino gaming out of the Lone Star State.

"...Texas sued, challenging these procedures, and the appeals court has issued a judgment for the state, agreeing that the federal government exceeded its authority.

"What makes the decision complex is that each of the three judges on the panel wrote an opinion. Writing for the court, Chief Judge Edith H. Jones held that the secretary exceeded his authority, and that unless Congress acts, a state cannot be compelled to enter the secretary's mediation procedure. Her opinion would make it easy for Texas to keep out gambling. She explicitly states that a state's refusal to allow Class III (casino) gambling would be bargaining in good faith.

"Judge Carolyn Dineen King concurred in the judgment, but not in Jones's opinion. She did, however, agree that the secretary of the interior exceeded his authority..."