The Justice Department has taken the unusual step of asking a federal court to remove a judge involved in a nine-year old class-action lawsuit filed by Native Americans seeking billions of dollars in unpaid and gas royalties dating back to the 19th century. Last year the judge — Royce Lamberth — held Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt of court. He has also been highly critical of the Interior Department for failing to identify how much money Native American tribes are owed. Lamberth recently described the Interior Department as “the morally and culturally oblivious hand-me-down of a disgracefully racist and imperialist government that should have been buried a century ago, the last pathetic outpost of the indifference and anglocentrism we thought we had left behind.” Lamberth has consistently ruled in favor of the 500,000 Native Americans covered in the class action suit. Last month Lamberth said in a ruling, '’Our government still treats Native American Indians as if they were somehow less than deserving of the respect that should be afforded to everyone in a society where all people are supposed to be equal.'’