The first meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 21, in Miami and will be hosted by the Quapaw Tribe. A second meeting will begin at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday at the Osage Nation's Wakon Iron Hall in Pawhuska. The final meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 22. It will be held at Wes Watkins Technology Center in Wetumka.
The Cobell lawsuit has had unprecedented success. In 1999, then Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin were held in contempt of Court.
The Cobell lawsuit has had unprecedented success. In 1999, then Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin were held in contempt of Court.
Later that year, Judge Lamberth ruled that the United States had breached the trust duties that it owes to individual Indian trust beneficiaries and, among other things, ordered a full accounting of all trust funds from 1887 to the present.
That decision was affirmed unanimously on appeal. Earlier this year, Lamberth concluded a second contempt trial, this one of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and former Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation and present Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb.
That decision was affirmed unanimously on appeal. Earlier this year, Lamberth concluded a second contempt trial, this one of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and former Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation and present Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb.
They are charged with perpetrating a fraud on the Court and repeatedly lying to the Court about the status of trust reform. That decision is pending.
Since Norton and senior Interior officials continue to refuse to comply with the Court's orders and routinely lie to the Court and Congress about trust matters, Cobell has asked the Court to take direct supervision and control over trust reform:
"What we need and what we have asked for is a receiver. Without a receiver, reform will never occur and this mismanagement of our money and land will continue."
Since Norton and senior Interior officials continue to refuse to comply with the Court's orders and routinely lie to the Court and Congress about trust matters, Cobell has asked the Court to take direct supervision and control over trust reform:
"What we need and what we have asked for is a receiver. Without a receiver, reform will never occur and this mismanagement of our money and land will continue."