Hearing on Indian Trust Judge Delayed

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Friday, September 16, 2005

A federal appeals court panel has decided it will not hear arguments today about whether U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth has lost the appearance of impartiality in overseeing a lawsuit involving billions of dollars the government may owe Native Americans.

The appeals court panel was scheduled to consider another dispute in the case along with the government's unusual July request to remove Lamberth as the presiding judge. Lamberth has repeatedly ruled that the Interior Department has refused to properly account for property, rent and gas and oil royalties owed to Indians, a duty the government took on when it seized management of Indian lands more than a century ago.

But the three-judge panel issued an order late yesterday saying they will instead refer the issue of Lamberth's perceived fairness to a later panel of judges considering another appeal dispute in the case, Cobell v. Norton . That means that the Justice Department is not likely to hold a hearing on its complaints about the judge until spring, based on the appellate court's already full schedule this year.

-- Carol D. Leonnig