In February of 1999, at the end of the first contempt trial in this matter, I stated that "I have never seen more egregious misconduct by the federal government." Cobell II, 37 F.Supp.2d at 38. Now, at the conclusion of the second contempt trial in this action, I stand corrected. The Department of Interior has truly outdone itself this time. The agency has indisputably proven to the Court, Congress, and the individual Indian beneficiaries that it is either unwilling or unable to administer competently the IIM trust. Worse yet, the Department has now undeniably shown that it can no longer be trusted to state accurately the status of its trust reform efforts. In short, there is no longer any doubt that the Secretary of Interior has been and continues to be an unfit trustee-delegate for the United States.
Over a two year period, the defendants successfully led this Court and the plaintiffs to believe that they were bringing themselves into compliance with the 1994 Act, and that they were taking steps that would one day provide the foundation for a historical accounting of the IIM trust accounts. In reality, as the Court chronicled in painstaking detail above, the Interior Department was experiencing so many difficulties in so many different aspects of its trust reform effort that the agency is still only at best marginally closer to discharging its fiduciary obligations properly than it was three years ago when the Court held the Phase I trial. Moreover, in terms of the historical accounting project, the Court's findings make clear that the Department did virtually nothing during the eighteen month period following this Court's Order of December 21, 1999. As a result of this fraudulent conduct, the defendants are in civil contempt of this Court.
Over a two year period, the defendants successfully led this Court and the plaintiffs to believe that they were bringing themselves into compliance with the 1994 Act, and that they were taking steps that would one day provide the foundation for a historical accounting of the IIM trust accounts. In reality, as the Court chronicled in painstaking detail above, the Interior Department was experiencing so many difficulties in so many different aspects of its trust reform effort that the agency is still only at best marginally closer to discharging its fiduciary obligations properly than it was three years ago when the Court held the Phase I trial. Moreover, in terms of the historical accounting project, the Court's findings make clear that the Department did virtually nothing during the eighteen month period following this Court's Order of December 21, 1999. As a result of this fraudulent conduct, the defendants are in civil contempt of this Court.