Post by Okwes on Jul 15, 2006 21:27:47 GMT -5
Indian trust judge tossed from case
Court sides with government, agrees Lamberth is compromised
Sam Lewin 7/11/2006
A major victory for the Department of Interior as the judge in the long-running Indian trust lawsuit is removed from the case.
“We agree with the government,” Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in a majority opinion.
Interior officials sought to have Judge Royce Lamberth replaced, charging the appeals court has continually overturned his pro-plaintiff rulings.
“This court has heard eight appeals in this case, each time setting aside a district court order or other action against Interior. According to the government, this pattern provides further evidence of the need to assign the case to a different judge,” Tatel wrote.
Also at issue was an opinion Lamberth wrote last year highly critical of the feds.
“After all these years, our government still treats Native American Indians as if they were somehow less than deserving of the respect that should be afforded to everyone in a society where all people are supposed to be equal,” Lamberth wrote.
The reversals and the harsh criticism prove bias and merit Lamberth’s removal, the government successfully argued.
“Given these seemingly unique circumstances, and given that justice must satisfy the appearance of justice…that is, reasonable observers must have confidence that judicial decisions flow from the impartial application of law to fact, not from a judge’s animosity toward a party—we conclude, reluctantly, that this is one of those rare cases in which reassignment is necessary," Tatel wrote, adding that Lamberth’s written comments about the Interior's alleged racism were “troubling.”
In a statement, Eloise Cobell, the Blackfeet woman crediting with bringing the issue of missing trust records to public scrutiny, said she is “disappointed that [the] Indian trust case has been reassigned because this will end the truly heroic efforts of a sincere and devoted jurist.”
She said that despite the setback, the validity of her claims was confirmed.
“Our success in this case is based on the evidence, facts and applicable law. With any new judge, we will continue to prevail,” she said. “The 500,000 Native people we represent should know that the basic foundations on which both Judge Lamberth and the Court of Appeals have based their many rulings against the government remain intact.”
Interior spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said the department is “pleased with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. At Interior, we take our Indian trust responsibilities seriously. We have been undertaking the accounting of Indian trust accounts-this will continue. We agree with the Court that the rulings today present an opportunity for a fresh start. We look forward to completing our accounting and working with Congress and our beneficiaries to address this longstanding issue.”
The court also overturned two other Lamberth rulings favoring the plaintiffs.
“We again vacate an order requiring disconnection of virtually all Interior computers from the internet, finding that the district court glossed over the immensity of the disruption that would occur to Interior’s operations {and] we set aside an order requiring Interior to confess its own unreliability in every mailing to trust beneficiaries on any subject,” justices wrote. “As we explained above, the district court again undervalued the potential harm to Interior, and then exacerbated that harm by requiring notice more sweeping than the record can support.”
In a rare instance in court orders, some frustration over a case which has thus far spanned three secretaries of the Interior and majority chunks of both the Clinton and Bush administrations appeared evident when Tatel began his opinion by writing: “For the ninth time in six years we consider an appeal in this longstanding dispute.”
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com
Court sides with government, agrees Lamberth is compromised
Sam Lewin 7/11/2006
A major victory for the Department of Interior as the judge in the long-running Indian trust lawsuit is removed from the case.
“We agree with the government,” Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in a majority opinion.
Interior officials sought to have Judge Royce Lamberth replaced, charging the appeals court has continually overturned his pro-plaintiff rulings.
“This court has heard eight appeals in this case, each time setting aside a district court order or other action against Interior. According to the government, this pattern provides further evidence of the need to assign the case to a different judge,” Tatel wrote.
Also at issue was an opinion Lamberth wrote last year highly critical of the feds.
“After all these years, our government still treats Native American Indians as if they were somehow less than deserving of the respect that should be afforded to everyone in a society where all people are supposed to be equal,” Lamberth wrote.
The reversals and the harsh criticism prove bias and merit Lamberth’s removal, the government successfully argued.
“Given these seemingly unique circumstances, and given that justice must satisfy the appearance of justice…that is, reasonable observers must have confidence that judicial decisions flow from the impartial application of law to fact, not from a judge’s animosity toward a party—we conclude, reluctantly, that this is one of those rare cases in which reassignment is necessary," Tatel wrote, adding that Lamberth’s written comments about the Interior's alleged racism were “troubling.”
In a statement, Eloise Cobell, the Blackfeet woman crediting with bringing the issue of missing trust records to public scrutiny, said she is “disappointed that [the] Indian trust case has been reassigned because this will end the truly heroic efforts of a sincere and devoted jurist.”
She said that despite the setback, the validity of her claims was confirmed.
“Our success in this case is based on the evidence, facts and applicable law. With any new judge, we will continue to prevail,” she said. “The 500,000 Native people we represent should know that the basic foundations on which both Judge Lamberth and the Court of Appeals have based their many rulings against the government remain intact.”
Interior spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said the department is “pleased with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. At Interior, we take our Indian trust responsibilities seriously. We have been undertaking the accounting of Indian trust accounts-this will continue. We agree with the Court that the rulings today present an opportunity for a fresh start. We look forward to completing our accounting and working with Congress and our beneficiaries to address this longstanding issue.”
The court also overturned two other Lamberth rulings favoring the plaintiffs.
“We again vacate an order requiring disconnection of virtually all Interior computers from the internet, finding that the district court glossed over the immensity of the disruption that would occur to Interior’s operations {and] we set aside an order requiring Interior to confess its own unreliability in every mailing to trust beneficiaries on any subject,” justices wrote. “As we explained above, the district court again undervalued the potential harm to Interior, and then exacerbated that harm by requiring notice more sweeping than the record can support.”
In a rare instance in court orders, some frustration over a case which has thus far spanned three secretaries of the Interior and majority chunks of both the Clinton and Bush administrations appeared evident when Tatel began his opinion by writing: “For the ninth time in six years we consider an appeal in this longstanding dispute.”
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com