This article will address the court decision that was handed down yesterday by the Supreme Court of Florida in regards to the Seminole Indian Tribe and their right to have Class III gaming on reservations. In the interests of full disclosure I must state that everything that I’m about to write is available on public access web sites. As an employee of the Hard Rock Casino I was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement that forbids me from disclosing any information that I might obtain from my employer. I can assure everyone that I haven’t been told anything that you couldn’t find on the internet but that statement was for my protection because there are people from the Hard Rock that read my blog.
As with most legal decisions, this one revolves around language. I will cover the bad news first and then the good. The court today ruled in favor of Speaker Rubio in his request for a writ of quo warranto. I learned that this is a legal term referring to the right of a person to exercise authority. This is very important and I will come back to it later.
What Speaker Rubio and the House were asking for was the court to rule that Gov. Crist did not have the authority to enter into a compact with the Tribe. The court did, in fact, rule that the Gov. overstepped his authority in this case. The ruling, in essence, strikes down the compact. However, what the court did was basically pass the buck. They issued an opinion and not a writ. By deciding not to issue a writ they held over the decision until both parties have had time to file for a rehearing. This means that nothing is going to happen until the parties get another hearing in front of the Supreme Court.
The tribe has previously stated that they are prepared to take this decision all the way to the SCOTUS.
In a nut shell, the court ruled that Gov. Crist did not have the authority to enter into a compact that violated the laws of the state of Florida. (I told you we would see this again.) Since it is against the law in the state of Florida for anyone to operate Class III gaming, the Gov. cannot enter into a compact that violates those laws. This makes sense and is correct under the treaty that governs Indian Tribes that is established with the Federal Government.
Here is were language becomes so important. By law, a writ of quo warranto is a question of authority. In the descent, it was pointed out that what the court did was rule that the compact was illegal, not whether the Gov. had the authority to make the decision. This will be one of the areas that the Tribe will attack when it moves forward. If it is ruled that the court overstepped is authority in issuing a writ of quo warranto, we would probably be right back where we started.
The second part of the law that the Tribe will attack is the clause on “necessary business”. The constitution of the state of Florida gives the Gov. the right to conduct necessary business to protect the people and the state of Florida. If we will remember back to when the compact was signed, the federal government had told the state of Florida that they had until Nov. 15, to enter into a compact with the Tribe or the federal government would rule in favor of the tribe. This ruling would have granted Class III gaming to the Tribe and allowed no payments or oversight to the State.
Now, under the national treaty the federal government cannot force the state to negotiate with the Tribe but they do reserve the right to override the state if it chooses not to act. In this case, the state failed to act for sixteen years. It was this inactivity that prompted the federal government to set the deadline. The descent also points out that the Gov. acted in the interest of the state and its people by signing the compact and guarantying payments to the state and oversight by the state.
The descent pointed out that while the making of laws does rest with the legislature, if they fail to act, the Gov. can be forced to act under the necessary business clause. In this case, the Gov. clearly acted in the best interest of the state.
You can read the decision and the compact in there entirety here.
These are the facts as I understand them. I do not pretend to be a lawyer but I read through the opinion several times and this is what I came up with. In my humble opinion, this hasn’t really helped the situation at all. All the court has done is push back the decision to a later date. Business will continue as usual for God only knows how long.
The question that you are all dying to ask is what does this do to the opening of Tampa and the other properties. At this moment I don’t know. Because of the holiday weekend we won’t hear from any of the top brass until Monday at the earliest. If I had to hazard a guess I would say that unless the court shuts them down it will not slow down the opening for one minute. To date the Tribe has given the state 60 million dollars and I don’t see them giving it back.
The general opinion around the break room was that the state will allow Class III gaming in other locations. One of the things not addressed in the decision, or this article, is the lawsuit filed by the pari-mutuels in the state challenging the monopoly that the compact gave the Tribe. The politicians are under tremendous pressure by them to allow Class III gaming in all pari-mutuel locations.
I for one do not see the state passing on all that tax money.
Peace, love and good happiness stuff.
Matt
idealcrap @ July 4, 2008
I know that everybody wants to know what is going on with the court decision. I just got home from work and I’m going to start my research. I should have a post up before I go to sleep tonight around 7. Check back then and I will have all of the information put together by then.
Peace, love and good happiness stuff.
Matt
idealcrap @ July 4, 2008
Here is some good information for everyone that is in the area and still looking for job at the Hard Rock. I can confirm that they are in fact still hiring. I received an email from a reader this morning that was hired today as a full time floor. I know that they are suppose to have 15 floor spots open but this reader also told me that they offered him a part time dealer spot. So if you are in the area you might want to stop by and put in your resume.
What follows is going to be some personal drivel so if you aren’t interested in my personal life this would be a great time to check out my blogroll; there are some great articles by my friends.
So Monday night I got stood up by a very beautiful woman. Since she might be a recurring character on this blog that means she gets a nickname; Duct Tape. I was really looking forward to going out with her but it represented something more then just a date. That was the part that got to me.
A little background on Duct Tape so that you can keep up. She is woman that I have known for about a year. She was a client of mine when I owned the spa and we would flirt and occasionally meet up with some other people for drinks at night. That lets you know how this all started.
The thing is, for the last two years I haven’t really felt like dating anyone. For one, I was broke beyond belief because of the business. It may be old fashion but I like to be able to pay for a date when I take a woman out. Second, I was crazy busy with the business and it wasn’t uncommon for me to work 100 hours, stressed out of my mind because I couldn’t pay the bills. Then when the business closed I went into a depression that made me emotionally unavailable.
So, since things in my life have been taking a huge turn for the better lately, I’m starting to get things in my life back on track. Among other things, dating is one of the things that I have looked forward too. I was finally in a position to ask Duct Tape out and she busted my balls about it taking me so long. We made plans for Monday night after she got off work only she never showed up. Now I’m in a precarious position because I don’t have a phone, thanks to the bill collectors having turned them all off, so she had no way of getting in touch with me if something came up. The next day I got up and drove back to Hollywood and haven’t heard from her since. So I can’t really get upset until I find out what happened.
The thing is, while I was really excited about going out with Duct Tape, it was the fact that I was going on a date that was such a big deal. It may seem like such a simple thing, going on a date, but it was a turning point in my recent troubles. While the last couple of years, and the last six months in particular, have taken me to a pretty low place there are going to be small victories over the next couple of weeks and months that are going to signify me getting my life back on the right track. I was hoping Monday night was going to be one of those moments.
Hopefully Duct Tape will have a good excuse and I will have a second chance at my moment with a wonderful women.
Peace, love and good happiness stuff.
Matt
idealcrap @ July 2, 2008