WASHINGTON D.C. – A request has been made by the U.S. Department of the Interior to delay the lawsuit filed by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that challenges the department’s recent ruling that the tribe was not a federal jurisdiction in 1934.
Representing Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Sarah Costello requested on Tuesday that the department be given until January 9 to respond to the tribe.
The filing states that the tribe’s complaint requires further time for review based on its complexity.
The Interior Department ruled in September that Mashpee Wampanoag’s were not under federal jurisdiction during the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act of Congress, effectively denying the tribe land it sought in Taunton.
The request for a delay was granted by the court on Wednesday.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
