Justices seem inclined to side with tribe in casino case

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court justices suggested Tuesday that they would side with a Native American tribe in Michigan in a case that arose out of the tribe’s construction of a casino.

The case the justices heard oral argument on Tuesday has already been to the Supreme Court once.

Michigan resident David Patchak sued in 2008 after the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, got the go-ahead to build a casino on land in Wayland near his home.

In 2012, more than a year after the casino opened, the Supreme Court ruled that Patchak could proceed with his lawsuit. But in a law passed in 2014, Congress shut down further litigation.

The Supreme Court is now deciding whether Congress’ act was constitutional.