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Trust: 'At least someone is standing up for us'
Monday, September 1, 2003
The Cobell trust fund lawsuit, filed seven years ago this July, is the largest class action in the history of government management but just don't compare it to historical mistreatment of Native Americans.
"It is true that there are hundreds of years of bad history, horrible history between the United States government and Indian people and there is the Trail of Tears and Wounded Knee and the stories in my family's Sioux traditions," said Daniel DuBray, a Department of Interior
spokesperson told Newsday. "But this case isn't about the Trail of Tears or Wounded Knee. This case is about what is required under a law passed in 1994 to perform an accounting, and the department believes it can perform an accounting and repair these issues."
Account holders see things differently. After years of inaction, they say U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth is finally holding the government accountable.
"At least someone is standing up for us," Wilbur Bear Leggings of Montana says.
"The United States is finally going to have to say what they've done to us . . . and give us what they owe us."
Lamberth recently concluded a 44-day trial and is deciding how the case will move forward. The Bush administration claims it can do an historical accounting but has imposed a number of limits on the project.
The plaintiffs have proposed an alternate methodology they say will ensure accurate account balances. Including interest, proceeds from land sales and other activity over the past century, they say $176 billion is owed.
Get the Story:
A Betrayal of Trust
(Newsday 8/31)
The Force Behind Lawsuit
(Newsday 8/31)
Relevant Links:
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton -
http://www.indiantrust.comCobell
v. Norton, Department of Justice -
http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htmIndian
Trust, Department of Interior -
http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Related Stories:
Tally
for private attorney fees in Cobell case rises (07/24)
Contempt charges against Interior
vacated (7/21)
Commentary: Critics of Cobell,
Lamberth shortsighted (7/21)
Neal McCaleb happy court is off his
back (7/21)
Editorial:
DOI, Congress can't be trusted to do right (7/21)
Editorial: What about holding
tribes accountable? (7/21)
Norton cleared of contempt on trust
fund (7/18)
Congress
hacks Bush's accounting funds (7/16)
Trust fund provision stripped from
House bill (7/15)
Swimmer
partly right on trust fund rider (7/14)
Hearsay: House sending message to
Lamberth (7/14)
Bill
could strip DOI of trust fund management (7/14)
Bush official balks at large
settlement for Cobell (7/10)
House takes testimony on trust fund
settlement (7/10)
Editorial: Shame on Bush and
Congress for rider (7/10)
Judge Lamberth hears closing
arguments in Cobell trial (7/9)
Closing arguments set in Cobell trust
fund trial (7/8)
Dicks pins
anti-Cobell language on Taylor (7/7)
Editorial: Trust fund settlement
bill 'disgraceful' (7/7)
Swimmer to appear on Native America
Calling (7/7)
Swimmer
finally off the stand in Cobell trial (7/3)
Swimmer testimony in Cobell trial
wrapping up (7/2)
Swimmer
recalls 'fuzzy' Reagan years (7/1)
Lamberth questions Norton's trust
limits (7/1)
Pombo targets
trust fund settlement program (6/30)
Swimmer testifies on trust fund
accounting (6/27)
Swimmer
challenged on Bush reform plans (6/27)
Swimmer expected to take stand in
Cobell trial (6/25)
Griles
gets Cobell wish list from House (6/26)
Taxpayers fund private attorneys to
tune of $3M (6/25)
Norton
offered settlement funds for IIM trust (6/20)
Swimmer testimony to come at end of
Cobell trial (06/05)
Cason
to take stand in Indian trust fund trial (6/4)
Indian trust standards debated
(6/3)
Suit aims to halt
reorganization (6/3)
Norton starts defense in trust fund
trial (6/2)
Tribes stress
unity on trust reform solutions (6/2)
Cobell welcomes a settlement to trust
case (5/29)
Lamberth
criticizes interference with trust fund case (05/22)
Tribes oppose OST expansion into Indian
County (5/22)
Swimmer: Don't
fear changes at Interior (5/22)
On trust, Swimmer turns to private
sector (5/14)
Trial in
Cobell trust fund case kicks off (05/02)
Bush reform plans debated in trust
fund trial (05/02)
Cobell
v. Norton Recap: Day 1 of Trial 1.5 (05/02)
Court tackles trust accounting and
reform plans (05/01)
Court
hears Norton's trust fund appeal (4/25)
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