Kilpatrick Townsend Counsels Snoqualmie Tribe in Key Land Trust Decision

In 2015, Kilpatrick Townsend client Snoqualmie Indian Tribe had its tribal existence challenged by the City of Snoqualmie. In a filing with the U.S. Department of Interior opposing the tribe’s application to take 16 acres of land into trust status, the city challenged the tribe’s federal status in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. On February 13, 2019, the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced that the secretary of interior may continue to accept land into trust status for the tribe. The decision resolves this significant legal uncertainty that had been hanging over the tribe for the last four years. Read Snoqualmie Tribe's press release.