Court Overturns Accounting Order for Indian Claims

A federal appeals court decided Tuesday that it was unreasonable to require a historical accounting of money the government has been managing for American Indians, saying the bookkeeping would "take 200 years." The accounting had been ordered by Judge Royce Lamberth of Federal District Court, who is overseeing a class-action lawsuit in which thousands of Indians contend that they were cheated out of more than $100 billion in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department. In their appeals, the government and the Indians estimated that the accounting ordered by Judge Lamberth would cost up to $13 billion - far more than was reasonable.

Mind you, the court didn't rule on the substance on the claim, that the government stole money from Native Americans, just that figuring out how much money was stolen would be too hard.

November 16, 2005
Court Overturns Accounting Order for Indian Claims
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (AP) - A federal appeals court decided Tuesday that it was unreasonable to require a historical accounting of money the government has been managing for American Indians, saying the bookkeeping would "take 200 years."

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with the government and the Indians in their effort to block a lower court order for a detailed tally of money owed the Indians going back to 1887.

The accounting had been ordered by Judge Royce Lamberth of Federal District Court, who is overseeing a class-action lawsuit in which thousands of Indians contend that they were cheated out of more than $100 billion in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department.

In their appeals, the government and the Indians estimated that the accounting ordered by Judge Lamberth would cost up to $13 billion - far more than was reasonable.

A three-judge panel agreed, overturning Judge Lamberth's order and calling his decision "ill-founded" and an abuse of discretion that was not favored by either side in the lawsuit.

The issue of how to determine what is owed to the Indians has gone back and forth from Judge Lamberth to the appeals court for about 10 years. An 1887 law allotted land to individual Indians and provided that the government would hold the land and any revenue from it in trust for the Indians and their survivors. In 1994, Congress ordered that the money be accounted for.

The appeals court said the accounting ordered by Judge Lamberth, who wanted a much more detailed look at records, improperly expanded the scope of what Congress authorized.

Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton said in a statement that she was pleased by the decision.

Lawyers for the Indians said they did not want to comment until they had examined the decision.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/politics/16indians.html