WASHINGTON (CN) - The Western Shoshone National Council and the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe waited too long to try to invalidate a federal judgment that compensated several tribes for the taking of their ancestral lands, the Federal Circuit ruled.
The court lacks jurisdiction because the Western Shoshone filed their challenge 24 years after the court affirmed a 1977 judgment of the Indian Claims Commission.
"Twenty-four years is not a reasonable time to have waited to challenge the court of claims' affirmance," Judge Rader wrote.
The judgment described the compensation to different tribes of Native Americans for the taking of land in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and California.
The Western Shoshone and Timbisha Shoshone tribes joined six other Native American groups in their lawsuit against the United States.
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