Here is the press release:
N. Arapaho Tribe Fights Draft Federal Legislation to Terminate the Wind River Reservation
Here is the press release:
Sen. Barrasso
ICT: Republican Senators Rebuke Interior on Jobs Report
Here.
ICT Coverage of Senate Report on Carcieri
Here.
An excerpt:
The report says that the decision sent “shockwaves” through Indian country “in great part because the record on which the Supreme Court based its interpretation of section 19 of the IRA was noticeably incomplete.” It adds that the decision undermines the intent of the IRA, threatens public safety and law enforcement, and impedes economic development, while increasing costly tribal and federal litigation.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, said in an accompanying view issued within the report that he concurs with most of Akaka’s views regarding the effects of the decision of and the purposes of the IRA, although he said he recognizes there to be other “good faith” understandings of the Supreme Court’s rationale.
“For my part, I do not claim to know enough about the government’s internal deliberations and legal strategies in the Carcieri case to say that there were deliberate or even careless omissions from the record presented to the Supreme Court,” Barrasso says. “But whether that happened or not is ‘water under the bridge’ and therefore much less important than the consequences of the decision itself.”
Cobell Deadline Extended to July 9
From BLT:
The lawyers in the long-running Cobell case have agreed to yet another extension to give the U.S. Senate more time to pass legislation to implement the $3.4 billion settlement resolving the Indian trust suit.
After the House of Representatives on May 28 passed the legislation approving the settlement, the plaintiffs’ lawyers and the Justice Department agreed to push back the deadline for the Senate to vote. That deadline was today. The new deadline is July 9.
“Inasmuch as the House has passed it and the Senate is actively considering legislation, we are hopeful it will be passed,” Kilpatrick Stockton co-managing partner William Dorris said today. Lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell is also represented by D.C. solo practitioner Dennis Gingold.
One issue that is posing a potential roadblock to a Senate vote is an amendment from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) that would cap attorney fees in the case at $50 million. Cobell’s lawyers had agreed with the Justice Department that fees would be capped at about $100 million. The plaintiffs lawyers said they would argue for no lower than $50 million.
It remains unknown whether the Senate will even vote on Barrasso’s amendment. Cobell said in an open letter today to Indian Country that the settlement is terminated if there are any changes to its terms.
“Senator Barrasso knows this and he knows that adoption of his amendment would kill the settlement,” Cobell said in the letter. “Why? He is playing Washington politics because the dirty truth is that he would vote against the current Senate bill even if his amendment is adopted.”
BLT: Showdown over Cobell Fees in Congress
From the Blog of the Legal Times:
The U.S. Senate is poised to vote soon on a jobs-and-tax package that would also authorize a settlement in long-running litigation over American Indian trust accounts. Still to be decided: what the cap will be for attorneys fees in that case.
Lawyers in the case, named for lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell,agreed to cap fees at $100 million. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is proposing to set the cap at $50 million, and he introduced anamendment (PDF) this week to do so.
Senators could vote on the amendment as soon as next week, or they might not consider it at all. A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today that no agreement has been reached.
Turtle Talk 