JURIST - Paper Chase: Indian trust plaintiffs seek reinstatement of removed judge

[JURIST] Plaintiffs in the 10-year-old Indian Trust case [Cobell v. Norton litigation website] on Monday petitioned [PDF text; press release] the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reconsider a decision to pull an outspoken judge [JURIST report] from the case. In July, the appeals court ruled that Judge Royce Lamberth's July 12, 2005 ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] and other orders against the Interior Department demonstrated that Lamberth had compromised his status as an "impartial arbiter." The plaintiffs will argue on appeal that the court improperly dismissed Lamberth for comments made in the July 2005 ruling that plaintiffs say "accurately restate record evidence and describe the deplorable conduct of the government as trustee."

The class-action Indian trust litigation involves the alleged mismanagement of American Indian money [DOI Indian Trust Fund website] by the US Department of the Interior [official website] over the last 120 years. In July, the plaintiffs said they were considering an $8 billion settlement [JURIST report], much lower than the $27.5 billion figure [JURIST report] that the plaintiffs demanded for settlement last year. In August, the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee postponed consideration [JURIST report] of the Indian Trust Reform Act [HR 4322 summary], legislation supported by the plaintiffs and sponsored by committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and vice chairman Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), that would settle the case. AP has more.

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