A federal court judge in Central Islip on Tuesday denied the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s request to overrule a state judge’s order to shut down electronic billboards on tribal land in the Town of Southampton.
Instead, Judge Nusrat Choudhury of the Eastern District of New York said she would consider a preliminary injunction that would forbid the state from further action for an extended period.
The Shinnecock Nation filed a federal lawsuit last week against Gov. Kathy Hochul, State Attorney General Letitia James and the head of the state transportation department alleging continued violations of its control over an easement for Sunrise Highway on the tribal land in Southampton.
The lawsuit came after a state judge in a civil suit over the same issue indicated she was considering imprisoning Shinnecock trustees for contempt after they refused to curtail the operation of the electronic advertisement billboards at the site.
One of the Sunrise Highway billboards in question. Credit: John Roca
The Shinnecock leaders maintain that a 1959 easement for the highway land was illegal and lacked required signatures and compensation for the tribe. The state transportation department and the Town of Southampton had sued the Shinnecock trustees and a private contractor over tribal economic development, including two digital billboards erected on Sunrise Highway and a travel plaza and gas station on the tribe’s Westwoods property in Hampton Bays. Southampton residents have complained that the developments did not match the character of the tranquil life in the wooded area.
The state court judge ordered both projects halted; however, the tribe continued to operate the digital billboards. The judge found the business that operated the billboards in contempt, fining it $500 and ordering it to pay the state’s legal fees.
At Tuesday’s hearing, a lawyer representing James’ office, Christopher Gatto, argued the billboards were unsafe because they distract drivers.
The tribes’ attorneys, Tela Troge, Judith Shapiro and John Byrnes, said in response that the billboards bring in $900,000 annually, money used to pay for senior meals, youth education and salaries for at least 20 employees. They said this income makes up 45% of the $2 million annual budget for the nation.
Central to the dispute was the federal court’s ability to halt a state court judge’s ruling.
“You are essentially asking me to tell the state court to stop what they are doing,” Choudhury told the Shinnecock lawyers during Tuesday’s hearing.
The state, aside from arguing that the billboards were unsafe, said the federal court did not have the authority to intervene in the case.
Shapiro said it is undisputed that the land is owned by the tribe. Also at stake, the Shinnecock lawyers said, is tribal sovereignty.
“The nation is not looking to rip out Sunrise Highway,” Shapiro said. However, she added that the tribe still has rights to control the land.
Several times during the hearing, the judge admonished Gatto for mischaracterizing the state land as a reservation and pressed him to provide legal citations and arguments for the state’s position.
At one point, the judge said: “Sir, I do not know why you continue to talk about Indian reservations.”
Choudhury denied the Nation’s request for a temporary restraining order, which would last 14 days, in favor of considering a preliminary injunction, which would restrict the state for a longer period of time.
Town of Southampton attorney James Burke, who attended the hearing, said the two sides were closer to a resolution than the contentious hearing suggested.
The judge ordered both sides to provide further supporting documents by Feb. 11 and she would then schedule another hearing.
“We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish in terms of getting this here into federal court,” Shinnecock vice chairman Lance Gumbs told Newsday after the hearing. “That was our goal because there doesn’t seem to be an understanding from state courts of federal Indian law.”
Newsday’s Nicholas Grasso contributed to this story.
Correction: Lance Gumbs is Shinnecock vice chairman. An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified his title.
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