What SCI wanted was a fair share of the game resources for both resident and non-resident hunters. Unfortunately, most lawsuits take much longer than seems necessary. The government has caused a great deal of the delay by repeatedly asking for extra time to respond to our filings. We have been careful in handling our responses to these delays. Although we would prefer that the case move more quickly, we are concerned that a lack of cooperation could alienate the judge.
Most federal judges hate delay, but they hate petty bickering between the litigants even more.
We believe that the judge will soon grow impatient with the governments' repeated delay tactics and will start pushing the government to move more quickly. In a lawsuit that challenges the actions of a federal agency, the government is required to produce all the documents that the agency considered, either directly or indirectly, in making the challenged determination. This record is absolutely crucial because in many cases of this nature, the judge will look at nothing else besides this Record in reaching his or her decision. In our case, the judge ordered the government to produce the Administrative Record by late July of last year. Dealing directly with the government, we demanded that the government produce all the documents required to create the Administrative Record.