From: Indianz
Eric Littlegeorge, an employee of HCI Distribution, adjusts a packaging machine inside Rock River Manufacturing. The two businesses are owned by Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe. Photo by Kevin Abourezk
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Ho-Chunk Inc., the tribe’s economic development arm, argued that it wasn’t covered by a particular recordkeeping provision of the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act. Section 2343(a) of the federal law does not specifically mention tribal governments or their businesses.
But the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said Ho-Chunk Inc. was wrong about the law. In a unanimous decision, a panel of three judges determined that tribal businesses must comply with the recordkeeping requirements because they are “persons,” just like any other corporation.
