Indian Trust Fund Litigation: Legislation to Resolve Accounting Claims in Cobell v. Norton (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised March 8, 2007 |
| Report Number |
RS22343 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
M. Maureen Murphy, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
-
Premium Dec. 8, 2005 (6 pages, $24.95)
add
|
Summary:
The Cobell v. Norton litigation has been before the courts since 1996. Cobell is aclass action lawsuit alleging federal government mismanagement of accounts held intrust for individual Indians. To date the litigation has not been able to secure from theDepartment of the Interior sufficient data in the form of an historical accounting todetermine the accuracy of the payments to individual account holders. Although a fullhistorical accounting is unlikely to be judicially required, the prospect that pursuit of anaccounting through litigation will be costly, protracted, and elusive resulted in theintroduction, in the 109th Congress, of S. 1439/H.R. 4322 and a concerted effort byIndian representatives to develop principles for a legislative settlement. A letter, datedMarch 1, 2007, from the Secretary of the Interior and the Attorney General to theChairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the HouseCommittee on Natural Resources, outlined key elements that the Bush Administrationrequires for a legislative settlement. To date, no legislation has been introduced in the110th Congress. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the developmentof a legislative solution.
