Posted on 04/11/2006 3:35:18 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON - U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has raised many an eyebrow with his adjective-laden opinions in favor of the thousands of American Indians suing the government for mismanaging billions of their dollars.
On Tuesday, an appeals court panel was asked to decide whether his rulings show he is too biased to continue with the 10-year-old lawsuit.
"It is exceptionally rare for us to make this request we are making today, and we make it urgently," Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler said, arguing that Lamberth should be removed from the case to "restore the appearance of fairness."
Lamberth, a Texas native and Reagan appointee, is well known for speaking his mind and setting high standards for the government when it appears in his courtroom.
Observers of the Indian trust case - called Cobell v. Norton - have said that after hearing years of arguments about the more than $100 billion in oil, gas, timber and other royalties Indians claim the government mishandled since 1887, Lamberth's frustration with the Interior Department is showing through.
But lawyers for the government argue he has gone far beyond that. On Tuesday, they said he has unacceptably charged the Interior Department with racism and that his opinions show he can no longer be objective.
The government petitioned to remove Lamberth after a July decision, in which he ordered the department to tell Indians that its information on trust assets may not be credible.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
The Indians shouldn't feel special about this. The government has mishandled everything they've gotten ahold of including everyone's money.
I haven't seen anything on these cases in several years, but from what I last saw (around 1999), the government's conduct was enough to make ones blood boil.
BUMP
Must be related to Judge Boldt.
He could be less vocal about it, but from what I've seen I like the way Lambeth has handled this case.
If anything, he has been extremely easy on the FedGov. The Govt. has badly mismanaged the trust funds, and Interior continues to stonewall and objuscate.
Maybe when he is done with the case for the indians we can hire him to go after Soc.Sec, Medicare, IRS, and INS for mishandling 'funds'.
How so?
When exactly has the federal government been trustworthy or credible in the past 150 years? Why would they start now? This judge is right to tell the Indians not to trust them.
I'm pretty sure "objuscate" isn't a word, but it should be!
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