Donald Trump files a lawsuit against the U.S. government for allowing Native American tribes to open casinos, claiming the 1988 law discriminates against him as a casino owner.
Trump’s lawsuit says the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 violates states’ rights and gives an advantage to second-class citizens (“a very limited class of citizens”) at the expense of others, like himself.
The act Trump takes issue with gives reservations permission to deal in any gambling allowed elsewhere within their state. Trump’s argument is the same argument white supremacists use: “If minorities are given the same rights as me, then I’m being treated unfairly.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, George Schneider, a lawyer representing 2,000 Ramapoughs in northern New Jersey and New York, said of Mr. Trump: “This guy is unbelievable. His father hands him a multimillion-dollar empire. The Native American Indians are lucky if they can give their children food, clothing and a roof over their head.”
The New York Times
The plaintiffs in the case include Trump, The Trump Organization, Trump Castle, Trump Plaza (Atlantic City), and Trump Taj Mahal. The defendants are Interior Sec. Bruce Babbitt and Charles Keechi, chairman of the Indian Gaming Commission. Trump is represented by his brother-in-law, John Barry, whose wife — Maryanne Trump Barry — is a New Jersey federal judge.
Atlantic City casinos have already been impacted by other casinos opening on the East Coast, but Trump hopes to put a stop to it before New Jersey’s Ramapough tribe gets permission to enter the business.
In June, Trump smears tribes as being operated by organized crime and not even being indigenous people.
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