A Native American tribe based on Long Island is challenging the legality of a section of Sunrise Highway built on what it claims is its sovereign territory, now seeking compensation for the alleged infringement.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation has initiated a federal lawsuit, asserting that the state lacked legal authority to construct or maintain Route 27 on a portion of federally protected land they own in Hampton Bays, called Westwoods. The tribe contends that the state did not secure the essential federal consent for this development.

According to the lawsuit, “New York State officials who asserted a supposed 1959 easement for Sunrise Highway through Westwoods failed to adhere to federal statutes, rendering the easement invalid from inception.”

The legal filing argues that when New York State claimed a ‘permanent easement’ on the tribe’s Westwoods land, it was unlawful under federal law to do so without the Secretary of the Interior’s approval.

The document further claims that federal authorities were never involved in the process, and there is no evidence that the U.S. government sanctioned the easement.

Rather than suing the state itself, the tribe named New York Attorney General Letitia James, state Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez, and Gov. Kathy Hochul — who just caught heat from another Native American tribe for vetoing a recognition of their sovereignty for the fourth time — in their official capacities.

The Shinnecock Nation is not seeking to shut down or control that stretch of Sunrise Highway but is instead asking the court to force the state to obtain the proper federal permissions and compensate the tribe for the use of its land, the suit said.

“This land is and has always been restricted fee land held by the Nation,” according to the suit. 

Fueling the battle are two controversial massive digital billboards that the Shinnecock Nation erected along the stretch and uses to generate roughly $900,000 a year.

The tony town of Southampton, where the billboards were erected, hates the supposedly unsightly advertising structures and has demanded their removal, with the state picking up the mantle in the town’s battle against the tribe.

The tribe and state have been fighting over the land issue since at least 2019, when New York took the Shinnecock to court, using the now-disputed easement to try to shut down the billboards on the Westwoods property. 

New York successfully argued in court that it had the official authority over that land based on the 1959 easement. 

Despite the federal government officially confirming the land’s protected status in January, state appellate courts ordered the tribe to take the billboards offline in December, ruling that New York holds a valid easement over the property.

The tribe is now seeking a federal judge to declare that ruling unlawful in this suit against state officials, and in the meantime, bar them from pursuing any enforcement related to the billboards while the litigation is ongoing, according to the filing. 

New York officials decline to comment on the pending lawsuit. Lawyers and representatives for the Shinnecock Nation did not respond to Post requests for statements.