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Normalcy returning to Interior?
After three months of a court-induced
computer shutdown, the Department of Interior
is finally resuming some sense of normalcy.
But when it comes to the trust fund, nothing is
as it seems.
Department officials received permission
to operate a system critical to the delivery of
payments to Indian beneficiaries but had no
answers this week how they will reconcile
the proper accounts.
And with a contempt ruling pending and
motions for additional sanctions on the horizon,
look for things to heat up in the next
few weeks.
Get the Story:
Key trust
fund system being restarted (3/25)
The injustice
of the trust fund (3/25)
Trust
officials could get extra funds (3/26)
Trust fund
subject of law school talk (3/27)
Cobell to get
honorary degree (3/28)
Bush pushes cases before Supreme Court
So far, so good, say tribal leaders and their advocates
on the Supreme Court's refusal to take any Indian law cases
this term. Fearing a repeat of years prior,
they hope the Nine Justices don't get a chance to
reverse positive rulings.
If the Bush administration has its way, those
fears will be realized.
The Department of Justice has asked the nation's
highest court to reverse two rulings
affecting the federal government's trust responsibility.
In one case, the Navajo Nation's $600 million claim
for an unfavorable lease is at stake while
the White Mountain Apache Tribe's crumbling school
and other facilities are at risk in an another.
Speaking with unanimity, as the Court did this week
in an unrelated case and often does on Indian law,
these decisions could change the criteria used
to establish breaches of trust.
Get the Story:
Bush wants
Navajo ruling reversed (3/27)
One-strike
policy against drugs upheld (3/27)
Leave no
Apache school behind (3/29)
more stories
There's still more to read in the recap
of the top stories.
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