During the Reagan Administration the issue of unresolved Indian Money Damage Claims surfaced once again regarding 17,000 Indian claims to an estimated 100 million acres of Indian property that is managed under a federal trust since the treaties were signed in the 1800's to protect the Indians from encroachment by border-whites and states. These are the Forced Fee Patents Cases on Indian Reservations of Indian property robbed in state courts by illegal liens and taxes on trust property of Indians with the complicity of the Secretary of the Interior issuing fee patents without any consent of the Indians required by federal statute. Congress passed Public Law 96-217, Section 2 which provides in full: Not later than June 30, 1981, the Secretary of the Interior, after consultation with the Attorney General, Shall submit to the Congress legislative proposals to resolve those Indian claims subject to the amendments made by the first section of this Act [extending the statute of limitations period] that the Secretary of the Interior or the Attorney General believes are not appropriate to resolve by litigation. Secretary of the Interior James Watt and President Reagan decided not to litigate the claims nor to send the claims to Congress for legislative resolutions in restoring the Indian lands and providing just compensation for a century of lost revenues of the Indian landowners. Senator Cohen, Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee disagreed with President Reagan by stating in part, "I do not agree with the conclusion of the Department of the Interior, that legislation to address the "Old-Age Assistance" category of claims [county welfare officials forced old Indians to sell their trust property to whites as a prerequisite to receiving welfare] will bring the Government into substantial compliance with the requirements of P.L. 96-217, that the Department of the Interior in consultation with the Department of Justice submit to the Congress legislative proposals to resolve these outstanding Indian claims. I feel that dispositions made by the Interior Dept. and Justice Dept. falls far short of the intent of Congress in enacting P.L. 96-217." The plan of President Reagan was to will the Indian claims out of existence by letting the statute of limitations run out extinguishing Indian claims forever. However, the Covelo Indian Community filed a class action suit against Secretary of the Interior James Watt and Attorney General William French Smith in which a federal judge ruled on 11/17/82 that defendants motion to dismiss be, and the same hereby is, DENIED, and it is FURTHER ORDERED that defendants shall submit legislative proposals to Congress designed to resolve all those claims [17,000 claims] held by plaintiff class, that defendants will not litigate before December 31, 1982, and it is FURTHER ORDERED that said legislative submissions be made in due course, but in any event, not later than December 15, 1982, and it is FURTHER ORDERED that if defendants cannot make the necessary legislative submissions by that date, they shall institute protective litigation to cover those claims not the subject of legislative submissions, and it is FURTHER ORDERED that, to the extent not already accomplished as evidenced in the record herein, defendants shall notify members of the plaintiff class, individual or tribal where appropriate, as to the current status of their claims and the nature of the forthcoming statutory deadline of December 31, 1982 for the institution of litigation." The response of President Reagan was to claim the "Executive branch's discretion as to whether or not to propose legislation can never be constitutionally limited in light of Article II, Section 3." The Judge ruled "By signing P.L. 96-217, the President authorized and approved the requirements of Section 2. If the Executive's discretion was thereby restricted, it was done by his own hand and is, therefore beyond a charge of constitutional infirmity." See-Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425, 441 (1977).
As a final argument for dismissal, that plaintiff's action is barred by laches, they claim that plaintiffs had enough knowledge concerning the decisions not to litigate and not to propose legislation, to institute a lawsuit much earlier in time. The argument lacks merit since defendants did not make public many of their final decisions until the Congressional Oversight hearings held September 16 and 23, 1982. Moreover, the Sampsel Report, was not submitted until October 21, 1982, making this case truly ripe at that time. If anyone has been guilty of foot dragging in pursuing this matter it has been defendants. Their equitable defense therefore must fail." I have spent 35 years of my life pursuing these claims for the Blackfeet Indians to no avail, and brought requests to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee duly passed by the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council. I am appealing to President Obama to send our claims to Congress per 96-217. I talked to the Assistant U.S. Attorney for Montana but they have no plans to prosecute our claims, so there it is, stonewalling. Bob Juneau Sr.
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