Tribe Opposes Appeals Court Nominee

A California Indian tribe has accused a controversial nominee for the federal appeals court in San Francisco of lying during his confirmation hearing.

The latest charge comes on the eve of a vote today in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of William G. Myers III to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

An attorney for the Quechan Indian Nation sent a letter to members of the Judiciary Committee this week saying that Myers had told "untruths" in his March 1 testimony in response to questions from the committee about actions he had taken while he was the Interior Department's top lawyer.

"Mr. Myers continues to try to rewrite history" regarding his actions on the proposed Glamis mine in Imperial County, the letter from attorney Courtney Ann Coyle of La Jolla states.

John Nowacki, a spokesman for the Justice Department, who has served as Myers' spokesman during a lengthy confirmation battle, said the letter mischaracterized what had occurred and said Myers had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the Glamis matter by the Interior Department's inspector general.

In 2001, Meyers reversed a legal opinion by his predecessor at Interior, paving the way for Glamis Gold Ltd. of Canada to move forward with plans to build a 1,600 acre open-pit gold mine that would be adjacent to federally designated wilderness in Imperial County.

The mine has not been built and Glamis has filed a legal claim against the state of California, saying environmental restrictions have destroyed the value of the proposed mine.

Last year, the nomination of Myers to the 9th Circuit cleared the judiciary committee on a straight party line vote, but failed before the full Senate on a 53 to 44 vote.

Myers is among 10 judicial candidates whose nominations were blocked by Senate Democrats and were renominated in February by President Bush. Myers will be the first since then to be voted on by the committee, and if he clears the panel as expected, it could set up a confrontation on the Senate floor.

Myers, 49, practices law in Boise, Idaho. He was a lobbyist for the mining and grazing industries before serving as solicitor of the Interior Department during the first two years of the Bush administration.

Myers' predecessor at Interior during the Clinton administration, John Leshy, said the Glamis project had to be stopped to prevent "unnecessary or undue degradation of public lands."