Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the landmark litigation known as Cobell v. Kempthorne, acting on behalf of more than 500,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries, today (Thursday) filed a petition asking the full U.S Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit to review a July 11, 2006 decision by a three-judge panel. That ruling improperly vacated an injunction entered by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to protect individual Indians from further irreparable harm as a result of Interior’s woefully insecure computer systems.
At the same time, Ms. Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation from Browning, Mont., announced that plaintiffs would also appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a decision made by the same panel on the same day that wrongfully reassigned Judge Lamberth from the case because of “apparent bias” against the government.
At the same time, Ms. Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation from Browning, Mont., announced that plaintiffs would also appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a decision made by the same panel on the same day that wrongfully reassigned Judge Lamberth from the case because of “apparent bias” against the government.
“It is unprecedented for a federal judge to be reassigned under these circumstances, especially where, as here, the judge has presided over a complex case for 10 years,” said Ms. Cobell. “And we think it extraordinary for an appellate court to accede to the government’s wishes because the judge accurately described the historic mistreatment of Indians, conduct that even the court of appeals agreed is deplorable.”
“Judge Lamberth is a fair and knowledgeable jurist who has won the deepest respect of Indian people across this country. To take a judge of this caliber and integrity from a case as complex as this is terribly unfair and a travesty of justice. It is another dark chapter in the history of this nation’s mistreatment of Indian people.”
The full appeals court petition is available at http://www.indiantrust.com
Please also see the
Indian Trust series in our International Law section.
“Judge Lamberth is a fair and knowledgeable jurist who has won the deepest respect of Indian people across this country. To take a judge of this caliber and integrity from a case as complex as this is terribly unfair and a travesty of justice. It is another dark chapter in the history of this nation’s mistreatment of Indian people.”
The full appeals court petition is available at http://www.indiantrust.com
Please also see the
Indian Trust series in our International Law section.