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8/9/2004
Jenner & Block recently filed an amicus brief on behalf of national business groups and industry associations urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of the Cherokee Nation and other Indian Tribes who are seeking to compel the government to honor its full financial obligation under contracts that gave the Tribes control over their education, healthcare, job training and other programs.
The Tribes allege in the consolidated cases, Cherokee Nation and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation v. Tommy G. Thompson, No. 02-1472, and Tommy G. Thompson v. Cherokee Nation Of Oklahoma, No. 03-853, that a federal agency breached its contractual obligations when it spent all of its budgeted Congressional appropriation and then refused to pay the Tribes millions of dollars in social program costs.
The government contends that the agency’s exhaustion of its general lump-sum appropriation relieves the government of its contractual obligations and precludes a government contractor from obtaining any relief at the agency or any court.
This position “renders many government contracts illusory, harming not only contractors left without a remedy, but also the government’s ability to contract in the future,” wrote Jenner & Block Partner Ian Heath Gershengorn in the amicus brief.
Mr. Gershengorn, along with Partner Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. and Partner David A. Churchill, filed the brief on behalf of The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, The National Defense Industrial Association, and the Aerospace Industries Association. The organizations argue that if the government maintains sole discretion for determining its contractual liability in these business arrangements, private government contractors would be “at the mercy” of the government for the full payment for services.
"Once a contract is properly awarded, the government cannot avoid its financial obligation under that contract by exhausting the general lump-sum appropriation account from which the obligation is to be paid,” the brief concludes.
Practice Groups:
Appellate and Supreme Court Practice
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