Judge throws out Onondaga Nation's land-claim lawsuit

Judge throws out Onondaga Nation's land-claim lawsuit
Published: Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 10:46 PM Updated: Thursday, September 23, 2010, 7:06 AM

Charles McChesney / The Post-Standard

Albany, NY -- A federal judge has thrown out the Onondaga Nation’s land-claim lawsuit.

The nation sued New York state, Onondaga County, Syracuse and five companies, including Honeywell International. The Onondagas claimed that land from the Canadian to the Pennsylvania borders had been illegally taken by the state in the 18th and 19th centuries when it negotiated treaties in violation of federal laws.

Lawrence E. Kahn, federal judge for the Northern District of New York, said Wednesday that similar cases brought by the Cayugas and Oneidas were dismissed because they were not brought soon enough and would disrupt areas that had been developed by generations of landowners.

Onondaga chiefs will meet this week to discuss an appeal, Onondaga Nation attorney Joe Heath said. “This is not the end at all,” he said.

Heath said that the Nation could take the case to the court of appeals and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court. International courts were also available, he said.

Heath said previously rulings seemed to force Kahn to decide the case as he did, but that the earlier rulings were not just. He said Indian nations did not take their cases to court earlier because the could not get access. "What we proved in our submission was that Indian nations could not get to court," he said.

The earlier decisions, he said, seemed designed to make it impossible for Indian nations to win in court. "I'm very pessimistic about the chances of justice in the U.S. court system he said.

Heath said that the case has not been disruptive and wouldn't be. The Onondaga Nation wants justice, not its land back, he said .

"We just need to admit these historic wrongs and figure out a way ahead," Heath said.

A group, Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, has scheduled a candlelight vigil for 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Clinton Square to "express our sadness, outrage and disappointment."


From a friend:

WE WON ANOTHER ONE BIG TIME. THANKS TO SHERRILL AND CAYUGA THE ONONDAGA LAND CLAIM IS DEAD AT THE HANDS OF JUDGE KAHN. I am sure that they will appeal but in light of the 1974 land claim decision I don't think that it is going to get any real traction.