After Indian Country applauded a federal appellate court for overturning a lower-court decision that called the compact between the Seminole Tribe and the state of Florida illegal, it’s now time to consider exactly what that decision means and how it could affect tribes across the country.
There is no clear answer, according to stakeholders and lawyers experienced in tribal law. On the one hand, one attorney referred to it as a “tremendous decision” with many positive outcomes for the Seminoles and the state of Florida, but another wrote that “it won’t change a thing in California or most other states, except to add an extra element of confusion.”
