Off the Reservation

It's becoming increasingly clear that the main impediment to a settlement in the age-old lawsuit over the Interior Department's management of Indian trust funds is Royce Lamberth, the U.S. district judge overseeing the case. Yesterday, a federal appeals court ruled that Lamberth's order requiring a detailed historical accounting of the management of the trust funds was unreasonable--as in, it would take 200 years to complete the task. Here's the first clue that Lamberth's order was out of whack: Neither side in the case thought it made sense.