Update: Kevin Gover, a professor at the Arizona State University College of Law and an organizer of the conference, chimed in today with a short e-mail. "He didn't say what the HawaiiReporter says. This is a gross distortion of his remarks," the former assistant secretary wrote.

The Bush administration is considering ways to terminate its trust responsibility to individual Indians through a settlement of the Cobell lawsuit, according to a posting on HawaiiReporter.Com.

At a recent conference in Arizona, Jim Cason, the associate deputy secretary at the Interior Department, was said to have explained the administration's position. He said a bill to settle Cobell should end the federal government's liability to individual Indians, according to attorney Lana Marcussen.

Marcussen is a Phoenix attorney who works with an anti-sovereignty group called Citizens for Equal Rights Alliance [Web Site]. The group doesn't believe tribes retain sovereignty.

HawaiiReporter.Com is a conservative web site whose operators oppose recognition of a Native Hawaiian governing entity. The site has quoted leaders of CERA in prior articles.

The conference Cason spoke at was held at the Arizona State University College of Law.

Get the Story:
Bush Bureau of Indian Affairs Now Questioning Federal Indian Trust Relationship (The Hawaii Reporter 12/14)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Cobell v. Norton, Department of Justice - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htm
National Congress of American Indians - http://www.ncai.org
Intertribal Trust Fund Monitoring Association - http://www.itmatrustfunds.org

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