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THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2003

The Army Corps of Engineers faces a 9 a.m. deadline tomorrow to lower flows in the Missouri River of face $500,000 in daily contempt fines.

But a legal scholar said there are few consequences should the agency fail to obey a federal judge's orders. Dan Tarlock, a law professor at the Chicago-Kent School of Law, said the government doesn't even have to pay the fines.

"I'm sure they're not going to put Donald Rumsfeld in jail," Tarlock told The Sioux Falls Argus Leader. "I'm sure the government would claim immunity for officials."

The Army Corps falls under the Defense Department.

Get the Story:
Corps might reduce Missouri's flow to avoid contempt (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 7/24)
Missouri River spat intensifies in courts (AP 7/24) Judge refuses to help Corps of Engineers avoid contempt charge (AP 7/24)

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