WASHINGTON TIMES, Aug. 16, 1999: In a 47 page ruling, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth angrily accused Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and their government attorneys of dis- obeying his November, 1996 order to turn over the records in a suit brought by the Native American Rights Fund, saying they "covered up their disobedience through semantics and strained, unilateral, self-serving interpretations of their own duties."

Judge Lamberth said the $625,000 judgment was the "only fair result" given the manner in which Mr. Babbitt, Mr. Rubin and the lawyers conducted themselves in refusing to turn over the records.

Jim McCarthy, spokesman for the Indian fund, said the organization was "gratified" by the ruling. "The way the government has conducted this case should shock anyone with a basic familiarity with the law. It has literally taken the Indians years to hold these guys accountable. The government sought to delay the trial to exhaust our resources. There was no other legal purpose."

In his contempt order, Judge Lamberth said he found "clear and convincing evidence" that Mr. Babbitt, Mr. Rubin and Mr. Grover (Assistant Interior Secretary) disobeyed his order..."The court is deeply disappointed that any litigant would fail to obey orders for production of documents, and then conceal and cover up that disobedience with outright false statements that the court then relied upon...But when the litigant is the federal government, the misconduct is even more troubling. I have never seen more egregious misconduct by the federal government."