Wampum

Writing for the entire SCOTUS, minus J. John Paul Stevens, who wrote a dissenting opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote that:

too much time had passed for the Oneidas to now claim tribal sovereignty over a property, and

if upheld, the claim would create a "disruptive" patchwork of local and Indian jurisdiction.

The Oneidas claimed that because the Sherrill properties, located 30 miles east of Syracuse, N.Y., were once part of a 300,000-acre stretch of their land they were no longer taxable by state and local officials after the tribe purchased them in 1997. The City of Sherrill differed. At issue, the taxes on a gas station, a convenience store and a defunct T-shirt factory. The date when the Oneida left the area of Sherrill, 1815.

For those of you who take an interest in the passage of time in the American courts, in the 2001 session the Court decided New Hampshire v. Maine 532 U.S. 742 (2001). The issue in New Hampshire v. Maine was the tax jurisdiction over Seavy Island in the Piscataqua. The deciding language was taken from a 1740 decree of King George II delimiting the Colony of New Hamphsire from the Northern Extent of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Maine) -- "Middle of the River".

Yes. J. Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote the majority opinion in New Hampshire v. Maine in 2001.

Municipalities are always concerned when properties are taken off the tax rolls through title transfer to tax exempt entities, and I'll be happy to take counsel, but I've never heard anyone at a planning or zoning board or citry council take the position that the United States or the Catholic Church or some 501(c)(3) entity should be subject to municipal taxation because taking a property off the muni tax roles would be disruptive to the city budget.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the decision "is at war with at least two bedrock principles of Indian law: (1) "that only Congress can reduce a tribe's reservation" and (2) "change a reservation's tax status".

He managed not to write that Ruth Bader Ginsberg actually managed to practice racism today, in addition to some fairly rediculous SCOTUS inconsistency, and if anybody doesn't know what first order magnitude of transfer of authority took place today in Sherrill, Plenary Powers, thought to be reserved to the United States Senate under Art. II, section 2, may now be exercised by the smallest city in New York State, with approximately 3,200 residents. On the bright side, J. Ginsberg didn't actually transfer Art I, section 8 powers to the City of Sherrill. That would be really entertaining.

The slip is here.