By Associated Press
Mobile, AL – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Alabama Attorney General Troy King's office challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior's power to force an expansion of gambling on Indian lands.
The suit was filed in April in response to efforts by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to force the state to negotiate a compact that would allow more gambling at its facilities in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka.
But U.S. District Judge William Steele in Mobile dismissed the suit this week on grounds that the state could not sue because the federal agency had not taken final action. In legal terms, the judge ruled that the case was not ``ripe'' for consideration.