Following the recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (earlier blog post here), the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan issued orders clarifying the status of the Bay Mills Indian Community - Vanderbilt Casino cases. 

The Court dismissed the lawsuit brought by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Case No. 10-cv-1278 (Maloney, C.J.) for lack of jurisdiction.  But the Court denied without prejudice the three dismissal motions filed by the Community, the Community's individual leaders, and the Community Gaming Commission in the lawsuit filed by the State of Michigan, Case No. 10-cv-1273 (Maloney, C.J.), inviting the parties to refile renewed dismissal motions within 28 days.  Given the narrow scope of the issues left open by the Sixth Circuit's opinion, it will be quite interesting to see how the State proceeds in its lawsuit.