"In a nation where a trillion dollars can be earmarked for Iraq and Afghanistan, and hundreds of billions of dollars can be quickly approved for bank bailouts, it's easy to miss a federal settlement involving “only” $3.4 billion. But last month's landmark settlement of the Cobell v. Salazar case is significant for two reasons. First, it represents the largest class-action award to American Indians and helps correct what a federal judge declared was “fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form.” And second, it may prompt Congress to do the right thing and end seven years of stonewalling that has hurt a tribe with legitimate claim to land that was developed into The Woodlands, Conroe and other Texas communities.

The Cobell case centered on claims that the U.S. government had deprived Indians throughout the United States of royalties for mineral and grazing leases on land held in trust for members of various tribes. When Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the case had settled, leaders of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe in Texas had reason to smile — but not because the tribe with the largest reservation in Texas will share in any proceeds from the case. (The tribe was not party to the suit.) Instead, tribal leaders in Texas saw the Cobell decision as a hopeful sign that Congress may finally act on a federal court's recommendation and write a long-delayed check for $270.6 million to the Alabama-Coushatta for oil and natural gas production, timber harvesting and trespassing on ancestral lands by non-Indian settlers.

A few weeks ago, when I took my law students to the Alabama-Coushatta reservation near Livingston, I had difficulty explaining to them why Congress over the past seven years had chosen to disregard the decision of the Court of Claims — something that almost never happens — and continue to ignore the Alabama-Coushatta. To recap: In 2002, a federal court ruled that the Texas tribe should receive $270.6 million for the value of the oil, gas and timber that had been extracted from its lands. As 2009 came to a close, the tribe had yet to see a single buffalo nickel of that judicial award."

Get the Story:
Gavin Clarkson: American Indians v. the U.S. government (The Houston Chronicle 1/3)

Related Stories:
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe pushes for land payout (11/25)
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe still waiting on big payout (2/27)