Casinos Stay Open as Legality Is Studied

U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez in Santa Fe ruled that casinos on Indian reservations in New Mexico can remain open while an appeals court considers whether they are operating illegally, attorneys said. The decision averted a showdown between 11 tribes and federal agents preparing to enforce a court order that would shut the casinos. Tribal attorney Richard Hughes called on legislators to endorse an agreement between the tribes and Gov. Gary Johnson that initially allowed the casinos to open. Vazquez ruled July 12 that the tribal casinos were operating illegally because they were not approved by the Legislature. Leaders of the Mescalero Apache and Jicarilla Apache tribes had vowed to defy the closure edict. The casinos dot a 150-mile stretch of the Rio Grande Valley between Taos and Albuquerque, in some of the poorest areas of the nation.