Babbitt

The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (“ITCA”), a consortium of 19 federally recognized Indian Tribes in Arizona, along with six of the tribes in their individual capacities (collectively, the “Tribes”), sued the Secretary of the Interior (“Secretary”) and Barron Collier, Inc., Collier Development Corporation and Collier Enterprises (collectively, “Collier”) to challenge aspects of the Secretary’s exchange of the federally owned Phoenix Indian High School property for lands in the Florida Everglades privately owned by Collier plus $34.9 million cash to be placed in trust for the Tribes pursuant to the Arizona-Florida Land Exchange Act. Specifically, the Tribes contend that the Secretary’s actions in accepting a four year delay in the close of escrow on the funds to be placed in trust for the Tribes, in accepting inadequate collateral and a' non-recourse obligation, in allowing Barron Collier Company alone to sign the trust agreement meant to bind all three Collier corporations, and in offering less favorable terms to other potential buyers are judicially reviewable actions that constitute an abuse of discretion. The district court dismissed the claims of the Tribes, who now appeal.…