Norton seeks dismissal of contempt citation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interior Secretary Gale Norton's personal attorney urged an appeals court Thursday to dismiss a contempt of court citation in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit over the mismanagement of royalties from American Indian lands.

Norton's lawyer, Herbert Fenster, said in papers filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that Norton is not to blame for failures in the Indian trust fund before she took office.

The contempt ruling "impugns Ms. Norton's integrity, questions her competence and assails her reputation" and is "inherently personal," according to Fenster's appeal.

Government attorneys last week asked the appeals court to throw out the citation. But Norton felt it necessary to file a separate response because of what she believed were the harsh, personal attacks by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, Fenster said.