Failure of the United States Indian Claims Commission to File a Report with Congress in the Western Shoshone Case (Docket 326-K), Pursuant to Sections 21 and 22(a) of the Indian Claims Commission Act

Information has recently come to light that raises a fundamental question with regard to the Indian Claims Commission Western Shoshone Docket 326-K. Section 21 of the Indian Claims Commission Act (ICCA) required the Indian Claims Commission to promptly file a report with Congress when it completed a given case. However, the Commission never carried out this legislative requirement in the Western Shoshone case. Thus, the statutory basis for a Western Shoshone monetary distribution of Docket 326-K now stands challenged by the failure of the Indian Claims Commission to fulfill its obligations in the Western Shoshone case, as required by the very statute that brought the Commission into existence. This new finding calls into question the basis of Senate bill 958 (sponsored by Senators Reid and Ensign), and H.R. 2851 (sponsored by Congressman Gibbons) that would distribute nearly $140 million to the Western Shoshone Indians, as compensation for Western Shoshone lands supposedly taken by the United States without the consent of the Western Shoshone people.