The Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area
In the flood of 1877 the Missouri River changed course and cut an oxbow. In the early 19th century American jurisdiction followed water, but when the states jurisdictional dispute reached the Fuller Court in 1893 the river of law had cut off that oxbow too.
In January this year the Attorney General for the state of Nebraska, Jon Bruning, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, challenging the decision of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) that the Ponca Tribe's 4.8 acres of trust lands within the oxbow qualify for Indian Gaming.
The basis for Jon Bruning's challenge to the NIGC's ruling is transit through Nebraska. In effect, he's arguing for overturning the 1893 decision.
The Ponca Tribe was terminated in 1966, and restored to federal recognition by the Ponca Restoration Act, 25 U.S.C § 983 -- 983h. In 1999 the Tribe acquired 4.8 acres of land within the oxbow and in 2000 applied to Interior to have the land taken into trust.
The NIGC order of December 31, 2007 is here (18pp .pdf).
