The Times Herald – Many within the America Indian community are warning Bay Mills to “Stay away from the U.S. Supreme Court.” They fear Bay Mills’ fight to reopen its Vanderbilt gambling facility is a loser for all Indians.

In 2011, 240 tribes operated 460 gaming facilities throughout America. To some degree, they all are exposed to the risk presented by Bay Mills’ legal play.

A year ago, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that federal Judge Paul Maloney did not have the authority to close Bay Mills Vanderbilt casino. When Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette appealed the decision to the Supreme Court and the justices agreed to hear the case, it was enough to make Port Huron casino backers want to cry.

The Vanderbilt casino’s future will determine whether Flint and Lansing can have casinos. Most important, Bay Mills’ plans for a Port Huron casino depends on its Vanderbilt facility being able to reopen.

Last week, Schuette filed his brief in Michigan v Bay Mills. Oral arguments before the Supreme Court are expected by the end of the year.

For American Indians with issues before the court, losing has become a way of life. Since 2005, when John Roberts became chief justice, American Indians won only one of the nine cases before the court. Roberts voted against them every time.

Many fear Bay Mills is playing with fire by putting “tribal sovereign immunity,” the “Holy Grail” of American Indians, in a hostile court’s line of fire. Tribal sovereign immunity is the premise of Indian casinos throughout America.

Bay Mills’ working legal theory is any property it bought with land settlement funds from the federal government immediately becomes tribal land.

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