FW: Indianz.com: Indian trust standards before Supreme Court

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think one point which should be made is that Congress
should be limited as a matter of international law from
overly-impairing US trust responsibilities to the tribes.

I don't like the facts of this case, nor the present
composition of the Court.  I would much prefer to see a
clearer breach of trust responsibility on the docket.  This
one is almost an invitation to limit the Feds' duty:

http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs/01-1067/01-1067.pet.usa.r
ep.rtf

The tribes' attorneys are understandably resistant to this
being the test case.  I count at least three, perhaps four
justices on the present Court who would be perfectly happy
with Lone Wolf.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=187
&invol=553


************************
Dunno if you saw this one out of the NARF case:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyberlaw News - Download This!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Judge Made Me Do It"
Court-Appointed Hacker Altered Indian Accounts
Denver Post

In an extraordinary step approved by a federal judge, a
computer expert
hacked his way into a government-run, Denver-based
financial system last
summer, created a false account and later altered yet
another account.
All this happened without the hacker being detected. Those
steps,
endorsed by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in
advance, were
revealed Tuesday as part of a court case involving the
Interior
Department's handling of more than 300,000 trust accounts
it is supposed
to manage for American Indians.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E254976,00.html

Read "Download This," FindLaw's Free Weekly Cyberlaw
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===============================
--- Ishgooda <ishgooda@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Indian trust standards before Supreme Court
> FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2002
> http://www.indianz.com/News/show.asp?ID=2002/08/09/trust
>
> The federal government cannot be sued by tribes for
> alleged breaches of trust unless Congress adopts clear
> standards, the Supreme Court has been told.
>
> The mere existence of the Indian trust relationship does
> not authorize lawsuits against the United States,
> Solicitor General Ted Olson argued recently. Last month,
> Olson submitted a brief to counter a $14 million claim by
> the Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona.
>
> "The United States fully accepts the implications of that
> relationship and the undertakings that go with it," Olson
> wrote on July 5. "Not all those undertakings, however,
> create legally enforceable duties on the part of the
> United States, much less duties that are enforceable in a
> suit for money damages against the United States."
>
> The tribe, whose reservation and economy was recently
> devastated by the worst fire in Arizona history, wants
> money to repair a number of crumbling buildings located
> on an historic fort. A federal appeals court approved
> damages based on a common law trust standard known as
> "permissive waste.
>
> The tribe asserts that its trustee -- the Department of
> Interior -- allowed the property to fall into disrepair.
>
> But top officials, and the Department of Justice, dispute
> the extent and nature of the standards. Although the
> Interior has adopted a manual to guide its trust
> responsibilities, the Clinton-era document is not legally
> enforceable.
>
> For that reason, tribes are pushing Congress to make the
> principles into law. A draft bill has been circulated and
> has support in Indian Country.
>
> "Congress should act now to enact the legal standards the
> department must follow," National Congress of American
> Indians President Tex Hall told the Senate Indian Affairs
> Committee recently.
>
> Interior officials have not stated publicly any
> opposition to the proposal. "Congress always has the
> power to act," Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles said at
> the July 30 hearing.
>
> Former Interior official Kevin Gover agrees the bill
> should be a top priority because the Supreme Court is
> likely to issue a negative ruling in the Apache case and
> a similar one affecting the Navajo Nation, who claim a
> $600 million breach of trust. "That is the greater danger
> right now," he said in an interview.
>
> "It would be a great betrayal," if the bill failed to
> clear the White House, he added.
>
> The two cases will be heard in tandem during the Supreme
> Court's October 2002 term but no date has been scheduled.
> A separate brief is being submitted by Olson in the
> Navajo case.
>
> The tribes will each get a chance to respond. No friend
> of the court briefs were reported on the docket sheets
> for the cases as of this week.
>
> Relevant Documents:
> Supreme Court Docket Sheet: No. 01-1067
> http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/01-1067.htm
> | DOJ Response Brief (April 5,2002)
>
http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/2001/2pet/7pet/2001-1067.pet.rep.html
> | DOJ Petition Brief (January 15, 2002)
>
http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/2001/2pet/7pet/2001-1067.pet.aa.html
> | DOJ Merits Brief (July 5,2002)
>
http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/2002/3mer/2mer/2001-1067.mer.aa.html
>
> Related Decisions:
> White Mountain Apache Tribe v. US, No 00-5044 (Fed Cir.
> May 16, 2001)
> http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/fed/005044.html
>
> Relevant Links:
> White Mountain Apache Tribe - http://www.wmat.nsn.us
>
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