Chicken Ranch Tribe Wins Legal Case Against Governor Newsom

Photo by: BJ Hansen

Jamestown, CA — An appeals court judge recently sided with Chicken Ranch Rancheria and four other tribes in a lawsuit aimed at Governor Gavin Newsom and the state of California.

The Tribes argued that Governor Newsom was negotiating in bad faith on gaming compacts. An initial ruling, a year ago, was in favor of the Tribes. It was appealed by the state, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled in favor of the Tribes, late last month.

On a related note, the Chicken Ranch Rancheria reports that in days leading up to the ruling, the Department of the Interior (DOI) disapproved two gaming compacts (Middletown and Santa Rosa) for the second time, in part based on the issues raised in the Chicken Ranch lawsuit. Governor Newsom subsequently issued a press release blasting the DOI for disapproving these compacts, despite the DOI providing a detailed explanation for the disapproval.

Legal concerns were raised about the Governor’s overreaching into sovereign areas directly related to the regulation of gaming and the attempted taxation of Tribal gaming revenue.

You can read the entire 78 page Chicken Ranch Rancheria legal ruling, with more related details, here.