The Seneca Nation secured a significant legal victory in its ongoing efforts to hold the State of New York and the New York State Thruway Authority accountable for decades of illegal operation of the New York State Thruway across the Nation’s Cattaraugus Territory.

United States Magistrate Judge Michael Roemer issued a report and recommendation to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York on motions for summary judgment filed by both the Seneca Nation and New York State. In his report, Roemer concluded the state violated federal law when it attempted to obtain a right-of-way in 1954 without federal approval. He recommended that the Court enter a declaratory judgment finding the 1954 easement used by the State to construct the Thruway on Nation lands is void, and that the Court order the State of New York to immediately negotiate terms of a new easement with the Seneca Nation.

“Judge Roemer’s report is clear — the State of New York continues to operate and profit from a thruway that it never had proper authorization to build on our territory,” said Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca. “It is beyond time for State officials to engage the Seneca Nation in meaningful negotiations to account for the State’s violation of our treaty rights, its ongoing violation of federal law, and its illegal use of our land.”

The Treaty of Canandaigua signed by the Seneca Nation and the United States in 1794 guarantees the Nation “free use and enjoyment” of its lands in perpetuity. For decades, the Nation has held that the State of New York failed to gain necessary federal approval of an easement in order to construct a portion of the New York State Thruway across approximately 300 acres of the Seneca Nation’s Cattaraugus Territory, in violation of the Nation’s treaty rights. Judge Roemer’s report clearly articulates the lack of the required federal approval. The Nation has been pursuing a legal remedy to this longstanding issue through the court system for more than 30 years and initiated its current legal proceeding in 2018.

On average, approximately 30,000 vehicles cross Seneca Nation lands using the Thruway each day, generating significant toll revenue for the New York State Thruway Authority. In 2008, the Seneca Nation Council approved a resolution to begin invoicing New York State for every vehicle that travels the Thruway through the Cattaraugus Territory. The outstanding invoices total more than $4 Billion to date.

“With each day that passes and each vehicle that travels the Thruway through Seneca Territory, the State benefits from the illegal use of our land, while the Nation has been denied the full use of our Cattaraugus Territory,” President Seneca said. “We will not stop pursuing a path to justice and a fair, equitable and legal solution that finally addresses this situation we have been forced to live with for the last 70 years. We hope the District Court accepts Judge Roemer’s recommendation and forces an end to New York State’s longstanding injustice against the Seneca Nation.”