“Big Luther,” Alabama’s hyper-ambitious Attorney General Luther Strange, had been warned more than once. This page warned him. Other commentators warned him. If he had bothered to ask, members of the Alabama Bar Association most assuredly would have warned him, too.

Nevertheless, Strange went to court to challenge the right of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to operate their casinos on tribal land in Alabama. The attorney general and his staff spent considerable time and taxpayer money to pursue this case. And just as we and others warned, he lost.

U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkins, in a 60-page decision released last Friday, navigated what he described as “a complicated jurisdictional and federal statutory maze” that took him down a variety of legal pathways. “Ultimately,” Watkins wrote, “each pathway leads to a dead end for the State of Alabama.”

Therefore, the judge continued, “after careful consideration of the arguments of counsel, the pertinent law, and the pleadings, as supplemented by undisputed evidence,” he ruled in favor of the Poarch Creeks.

However, in his ruling the judge did more than dismiss the case Alabama brought against the tribe. In a stinging repudiation of the state’s claim that it had some jurisdiction over gaming on tribal land, Watkins wrote, “the bottom line is that even if Defendants are operating illegal class III gaming at the Poarch Band casinos, (the law) does not provide the state authority to prohibit such gaming.”

This ruling, if it stands, might well lead to the Poarch Creeks opening the sort of casinos that Mississippi Indians operate.

Putting his best spin on the setback, Strange issued a statement to the effect that the decision “puts us one step closer to a final resolution of this issue, which has been our goal all along.” Then he added that he intended to file an appeal.

So, more time and money will be spent on a case that, looking at Watkins’ impressively researched and reasoned ruling, would do little more than keep the attorney general’s name in the news and the Poarch Creek casinos operating.

Online:

http://www.annistonstar.com