Weeks after a U.S. District Court denied intervenors in Scotts Valley Gaming Case, the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians captured another victory with the support of the Coalition of Large Tribes.
The Coalition of Large Tribes filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. District Court to grant a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of the Interior’s reconsideration of Scotts Valley’s final gaming eligibility determination.
The proposed 400,000-square foot casino project includes the construction of 24 single-family residences, a tribal administration building, parking garage and a 45-acre biological preserve area on a 160-acre property located within and adjacent to the city boundary in Solano County, near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 37. The casino facility, at a cost of $700 million, would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The land will aim to serve as the cornerstone of the Tribe’s efforts to enhance economic self-sufficiency and foster community benefits. The development is projected to create thousands of jobs in construction and ongoing operations, paying hundreds of millions of dollars in wages.
The amicus brief highlights the broader consequences of the Department’s action, noting that allowing final decisions to be reopened without due process threatens the stability and sovereignty of all tribal governments, not just the Scotts Valley Tribe.
The coalition membership filed by the Coalition of Large Tribes includes federally recognized tribes with some of the largest land bases in Indian Country.
“We are deeply grateful to the Coalition of Large Tribes for standing with us,” said Chairman Shawn Davis of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians in a news release. “This case is about more than one tribe — it’s about the basic right of all tribal nations to rely on final decisions from the United States government. We are focused on moving forward with our project to uplift our members and create thousands of local jobs, and we continue making progress.”
The Tribe’s motion for preliminary injunction challenges the Department’s March 27 rescission and review of its prior final determination that Scotts Valley’s restored land acquisition qualifies for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The Department’s action did not impact the trust status of the Tribe’s Vallejo homeland, which remains sovereign tribal land.
“As COLT recognized in its brief, the Department’s about-face has consequences for every tribe seeking to achieve economic self-sufficiency,” Davis said. “After enduring centuries of mistreatment by the federal government, we will not allow our work to develop our homeland to be deterred or derailed.”
In early April the Department of the Interior formally let interested parties know that it was reconsidering its original approval for the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ casino project in Vallejo.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had other plans.
In a decisive ruling in late April, judge Trevor N. McFadden denied efforts by three outside tribes to intervene in the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ lawsuit challenging the federal government’s sudden reconsideration of the key gaming decision.
The court ruled that the proposed intervenors — Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, and United Auburn Indian Community — lacked the legal standing necessary to join the case. In doing so, it reinforced that the matter at hand concerns only the Tribe and the federal government.
A hearing on the Tribe’s motion for preliminary injunction is scheduled for Friday in Washington, D.C. The case, Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians v. U.S. Department of the Interior, Case No1:25-cv-00958-TNM., is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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