The More Things Change...

Judge James Robertson awarded the paltry sum of $455.6 million to the Cobell plaintiffs for a century of mismanagement of Indian trust funds by the Federal government. The legal equivalent of a penny tip, as noted by Wampum. Discussion at John Cornsilk's Place. An appeal will surely follow, but given the anti-Indian attitude of the current Supreme Court, this case could very well end up being yet another example of the one overriding principle of Indian Law: Indians always lose.

In a related story, the 9th Circuit has ruled that pouring massive amounts of urine on the sacred San Francisco Peaks does not violate the religious freedoms of the Navajo. I won't hold my breath waiting for the same sort of outrage that erupted at Andres Serrano's famous work in the same medium.