A Tribal Gaming decision is headed before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has decided to hear Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s arguments against the opening of an Upper Peninsula Indian community’s casino in Vanderbilt. The high court this fall will review a federal appeals court ruling last summer that cleared the way for the Bay Mills Indian Community to go ahead with the Vanderbilt casino. The small northern Lower Peninsula town is about 100 miles from the Bay Mills Indian Community on Lake Superior north of Brimley and west of Sault Ste. Marie.

“Today’s ruling sets the stage for an important discussion about the states’ ability to halt the unrestrained expansion of off-reservation tribal casino gambling,” Schuette said Monday while announcing his case will go before the Supreme Court. A decision from the nine justices likely will determine the future of Indian casino expansion in Michigan. The state has 23 Tribal Gaming halls, according to the state’s website, and the three Detroit casinos. The Bay Mills Indian Community also has looked at the possibility of opening casinos near Flint and Port Huron.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, based in Sault Ste, Marie, has an agreement with Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero to open a casino two blocks from the State Capitol. But Schuette and Gov. Rick Snyder are fighting that plan in court, too. The battle between the state and Bay Mills Indian Community developed after the Native-American tribe used trust revenue to buy land and open a small Vanderbilt casino in 2010. Bay Mills operates two casinos and a resort at its Upper Peninsula site.

Schuette and the state of Michigan argue the Bay Mills Community can’t legally open Tribal Gaming casinos on lands other than those it holds in trust at its U.P. headquarters. The attorney general won a March 29, 2011, injunction under which U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney ordered the Vanderbilt casino closed pending the outcome of a state lawsuit opposing it.