WASHINGTON (October 1, 2013) — After the Hon. Richard J. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court, Southern District ofNew York denied a preliminary injunction in The Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, et al. v. New York State Department of Financial Services, et al., effectively allowing the state of New York to overstep its jurisdiction onto Native American sovereign territories, Barry Brandon, Executive Director of the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA), provided the following comment:
“Today’s ruling failed to address hundreds of years of legal precedent and legislative action regarding Native Americans’ sovereign rights and will continue to allow ongoing and irreparable damage to Indian country through the state of New York’sactions. The Court acknowledges this, noting that ‘given the Tribes’ heavy fiscal reliance on lending operations, these developments pose a potentially ruinous threat to the Tribes’ financial viability.’ On that point, they are correct – it will absolutely devastate our tribes, which get large shares of our tribal operating budgets from the revenues generated by these businesses.
Read the full press release here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/court-agrees-new-york-state-department-of-financial-services-perpetuating-irreparable-harm-to-indian-country-226012971.html
