Lousiana senator seeks to end ‘reservation

Louisiana’s Senator David Vitter (r.) has introduced a bill that would limit “forum shopping,” which is a euphemistic rendering of what opponents of the practice usually call “reservation shopping.”

Whatever you call it, the Republican senator wants to limit or end the ability of tribes to locate tribal casinos sometimes hundreds of miles away from their reservation or traditional homeland.

This places him squarely in the camp of the current thinking in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but also puts him in the headlights of many tribal lobbyists, who, despite the fall of Jack Abramoff two years ago, still have largely unabated influence in Washington.

Vitter’s bill is the continuation of his fight against the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians’ proposal to put a casino on the Texas border, which is a long way from its reservation. It would give the states greater influence on the location of proposed casinos and would tighten up the law in other ways.