Appeals court hears arguments in dispute between two tribes over construction of Alabama casino on “sacred” land

ATLANTA — An appeals court on Wednesday considered arguments in a long-running dispute between two federally recognized tribes over the construction of a casino on land in Alabama that the other tribe says is a sacred site.

The dispute concerns land known as the Hickory Ground, which was home to the Muscogee Nation before they were relocated to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears. The site is owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama, a separate tribe that shares ancestry with the Muscogee and built one of its successful Wind Creek casinos on the site. The Muscogee Nation is appealing a federal judge's decision to dismiss its lawsuit over the casino construction.

The Muscogee Nation argued that Alabama tribal officials broke their legal promise to protect the site when they acquired it with the help of a historic preservation grant and instead excavated the remains of 57 Muscogee ancestors to build a casino.

“Hickory Ground is sacred,” Mary Kathryn Nagle, an attorney representing the Muscogee Nation, told the three-judge panel. Muscogee officials asked the appeals court to restore their claims that tribal and federal officials and the university conducting archaeological work at the site violated the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and other federal laws.

The Poarch Band, which claims that its work preserved much of the Hickory Ground, portrayed the case as an attack on its sovereignty.

Mark Reeves, an attorney representing the Poarch tribe, told the panel that the Oklahoma plaintiffs wanted to control what the Alabama tribe could do on its own land.

“We firmly believe that protecting tribal sovereignty is at the heart of this case,” Reeves said in a statement after the hearing. “The idea that anyone, especially another tribe, could be allowed to take control of land that does not belong to them is antithetical to tribal sovereignty and American values.”

The appeals court gave no indication as to when a decision would be made.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Bill Pryor, a former Alabama attorney general, told Nagle at the start of the hearing that he was “very sympathetic to many of your concerns here” and had questions about how the district court structured its decision. District Judge Robert J. Luck questioned whether the Muscogee Nation was essentially seeking “veto power” over what the Poarch Band could do with the property.

Nagle said she was encouraged by the panel's questions. Members of the Muscogee Nation marched to the courthouse in Atlanta before the hearings.

“This is about more than just a legal dispute. It is about our ancestors, our cultural identity and the future of Native rights across the United States,” said Muscogee Chief David Hill.