Judge Sides With Wampanoag Tribe in Lawsuit Over Reservation Status

MASHPEE (AP) – A judge has stopped the federal government from rescinding its reservation designation for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s land, ordering the Interior Department to review the matter and issue new findings.

The judge granted a summary judgment on behalf of the Wampanoag Tribe recently, concluding that the Interior Department’s actions were “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law.”

The tribe has more than 300 acres in Mashpee and in Taunton near the Rhode Island state line.

The tribe said the Trump administration’s action, if it had been allowed to stand, would have destroyed much of what the tribe has worked to build in recent years on its sovereign lands.