Appeals court - Department of Interior MUST account for Indian trusts in Cobell case

From the AP report in the Santa Fe New Mexican: 

" A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Interior Department must account for century-old land royalties owed to American Indians, reversing a lower court's ruling that the task is impossible.
A 2008 decision by U.S. District Judge James Robertson said Interior had unreasonably delayed an accounting but added that the complicated task was ultimately impossible. He later ruled the Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million, a fraction of the $47 billion or more they have said they are owed.
The appeals court said Friday that that court erred in freeing the government from the accounting burden. Chief Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the decision essentially allowed the Interior Department "to throw up its hands and stop the accounting."

This ruling should make things very interesting.....and very difficult for the Department of the Interior, too.....when it comes to accounting for Indian trusts.

Find the full story HERE.

twp