Indians find powerful ally
The Denver Post
By: Editorial
April 19, 2001
There’s a reason our U.S. Constitution established an independent court system, in which judges make decisions based on the law and not on political convenience.
Seldom has the necessity of an independent judiciary been more clear than in the lawsuit American Indians brought against the federal government for its mismanagement of Indian trust funds. Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Interior have claimed for months that the Bureau of Indian Affairs was progressing swiftly toward deciphering how much the Indians were owed, and toward correcting the accounting and computer problems that had fouled up the accounts in the first place. Then recently an internal memo surfaced, in which the government acknowledged that the whole effort to clean up the trust fund mess was “imploding.”
Given the government’s multiplying lies, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth could no longer believe anything the Interior or Justice departments said in court. Those departments, though, hold the keys to the case, including the documents needed to sort out what money is owed to whom.
Lamberth already had appointed one special assistant, known in legal parlance as a special master, to find the missing documents and discover why the government repeatedly has destroyed paperwork that the judge specifically told the federal agencies to hand over to the court. The special master, Alan Balaran, has begun that task.
But the government’s arrogance now has forced Lamberth to seek yet another set of eyes and ears to help him unearth the truth. On Monday, Lamberth appointed Joseph Kieffer – an engineer, lawyer and systems management expert – as a “court monitor.” In his new job, Kieffer will watch the Interior Department’s day-to-day efforts to resolve the trust fund accounting mess.
Kieffer’s presence will give Lamberth credible, accurate information about the Interior Department’s progress – or lack thereof.
But his appointment also figuratively slaps Interior and Justice officials not just for incompetence, but also for stonewalling.
If not for the court’s ability to act independently, then the Indians – or any other citizens – would have no recourse against government misconduct.
So often politicians rail against judges and the court system. In reality, though, it is far more common for the courts to protect ordinary citizens from government abuses. But, thankfully, there are souls like Royce Lamberth running American courtrooms.
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