Salmo,
Do you know where I can get a copy of the opinion and who made it. It does not appear to be readily available from the Department of Interior's web site. I think you are right in what they did in regards to Frqnce, but I would like to see if they included any reason for making that decision and what they relied on. In addition, I think I might try to file a freedom of information act to see who else may have influenced the decision or weighed in on it. . It would be interesting to see what, if any, political influence was exercised. I would also like to see what the original request from the tribe looked like. It feels a bit unfair that no one was allowed adequate time to file briefs or opinions on the matter before a decision was made.

Thanks