Black Seminoles see case dismissed -Supreme Court rejects appeal

A group claiming to be part of the Seminole Nation suffered a defeat in court when the Supreme Court refused to hear their case. Justices dismissed the case without comment. Attorneys for a group calling themselves the black Seminoles filed the suit. The black Seminoles sought to receive tribal benefits, including a 1990 government settlement for $52 million, as well as free school clothes and burial expenses. The ruling, encouraged by the Bush Administration, upheld a previous decision issued last year.  The black Seminoles trace their heritage to the early 1800's, when runaway slaves from plantations took shelter with the Seminole Indians in Spanish-controlled Florida. [more]