Vallejo, CA (September 15, 2026) — The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation have filed an amicus brief in Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians v. Burgum (D.D.C. 26-cv-02814-TNM), urging the court to deny Scotts Valley’s attempts to enjoin the Department’s recent Indian Lands Opinion finding that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act bars Scotts Valley from gaming in Vallejo, California.
The tribes advise the court of the long history of Scotts Valley’s attempt to game outside its ancestral homelands – and demonstrate why Scotts Valley is unlikely to prevail in its challenge to the Department’s 2026 Indian Lands Opinion.
The 2026 Opinion corrected several legal errors in a prior 2025 determination – chief among them, the 2025’s improper exclusion of evidence submitted by Yocha Dehe, Kletsel Dehe, and other concerned tribes. These corrections were not only reasonable, they were necessary. Recognizing that its exclusion of evidence would be considered legal error, the Department properly and reasonably took another look. Now, having reviewed that evidence – evidence that clearly and unequivocally refutes the key findings supporting the 2025 decision – the Department properly concluded that Scotts Valley has failed to meet the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requirement to demonstrate a significant historical connection to its proposed Vallejo gaming site.
Scotts Valley claims that it will be unfairly and irreparably harmed absent an injunction. But there was nothing unfair about this result. Scotts Valley had been warned by the Department and the United States District Court for the District of Columbia not to rely on the erroneous 2025 decision. It knew that any development at the Vallejo property would be at Scotts Valley’s own risk. In fact, it publicly admitted as much at an April 14, 2026, Vallejo City Council meeting.
The Lytton Rancheria, the United Auburn Indian Community, and the Governor of California also filed briefs in support of the Department, urging the court to deny Scotts Valley’s attempts to enjoin the Department’s 2026 determination. Together, the filings reflect broad support for the 2026 ILO and unified opposition to Scotts Valley’s gamesmanship.
“We are filing this brief because the historical record deserves to be defended,” said Yocha Dehe Chairman Anthony Roberts. “The Department conducted the fair, transparent, fact-based review that we have long advocated for. It considered the evidence from all parties, examined the full record, and reached a conclusion grounded in law and the facts – Scotts Valley has no claim to our Patwin ancestral lands. That work should stand. This land is Patwin ancestral territory. It always has been, and it always will be.”