The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) will once again argue that it has the right to operate a gambling operation on Martha’s Vineyard, this time at a Dec. 6 hearing before a federal appeals court.

Last year, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor 4th rejected the tribe’s bid for class II gambling (electronic bingo). As a result, the tribe has taken its case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the first circuit in Boston.

In its appeal, the tribe says Judge Saylor erred by ruling that it must submit to local and state regulations under the Massachusetts Settlement Act, endorsed by Congress in 1987. Attorneys for the tribe argue that the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act preempts that act and authorizes a gambling operation.

Briefs were filed in the case over the past summer.

The state, the town of Aquinnah and a community group have opposed the effort to site a bingo parlor in a 6,500-square-foot unfinished community center building near tribal headquarters.

While the appeal works its way through the courts, the tribe has pushed ahead to complete construction of the community center for its original purpose. If the work is not completed, the tribe faces the prospect of repaying some or all of $1.1 million in grants it received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to construct the building.