Attorneys debated a motion Tuesday to dismiss the lawsuit the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma brought in 2003 against Cayuga County municipalities challenging their attempts to regulate the tribe's land holdings.

U.S. District Court Senior Judge Neal P. McCurn heard oral arguments in his Syracuse courtroom. Hurd's decision will be handed down at a later date.

The case is set against the background of two landmark Indian law decisions earlier this year: the U.S. Supreme Court's March decision prohibiting tribes' land purchases within their land claims automatically reverting to sovereign status and the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal's June decision effectively dismissing the tribes' land claim.

Attorneys representing the municipalities are asking McCurn to dismiss the complaint the Seneca-Cayugas of Oklahoma brought in 2003 seeking to prohibit the town of Aurelius, the town of Montezuma and Cayuga County from property tax collection and enforcing zoning laws on the parcels the tribes own in the two towns.

In 2003, the municipalities pursued stop-work orders against the tribe's construction of a casino project at the intersection of Route 90 and Routes 5 and 20. The municipalities also issued a property tax bill in February 2003 to the tribe.

The Supreme Court's city of Sherrill decision does not disturb the tribe's right to seek monetary damages and even heightened that form of redress because the tribes can no longer purchase land to have access to a sovereign reservation, said attorneys for the Seneca-Cayugas and the Cayuga Nation in a response to a March 29 order from McCurn asking for a discussion of the implications of the Sherrill decision.

McCurn found in a 2000 land claim trial that Cayuga Nation descendants have continued to seek the return of tribal lands for more than 150 years.

The Cayuga Nation filed motions in the case argued Tuesday in opposition to the Seneca-Cayugas.

Even with McCurn's prior finding that the Seneca-Cayugas are descended from the historic Cayuga Nation, the tribe can't have both Indian Gaming Regulatory Act-approved gaming facilities in Oklahoma and in another state, Cayuga Nation attorneys claimed.

Earlier this month, the Seneca-Cayugas made a public overture to Cayuga County residents to support a proposed $200 million resort complex on Route 34 in Sennett. Caywill of New York LLC, an entity formed by Thomas C. Wilmot, the chairman of shopping mall developer Wilmorite, is working to purchase 300 to 400 acres on Route 34, about four miles south of Thruway exit 40.

In August, the tribe made a $70,000 payment to satisfy back taxes on land it owns in Aurelius and Montezuma.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net