No Claim to Fed Land under 'Equal-footing' Theory, AG Says (ID)

NATHAN BROWN
4 hrs ago

BOISE • The attorney general’s office has issued a scathing review of a legal theory behind a challenge to federal land ownership being discussed in Utah.

The office was asked to review a bill by Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, which starts by laying out a belief that federal ownership of so much of Idaho’s land is unconstitutional and that a transfer of lands to the state would “fulfill the promise made in the U.S. Constitution, the Idaho Constitution, the Idaho Admissions Act and congressional acts under the equal footing doctrine” ...

“This premise has no support in law,” Deputy Attorney Steven Strack wrote of the equal-footing theory. He went on to cite a 1911 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that explicitly rejected the idea that federal lands are held in trust for the state, and other rulings, including a federal circuit court ruling from Washington state in 1997 that said federal ownership of so much of that state did not violate the equal-footing doctrine. Strack wrote that Congress has the power to dispose of federal lands as it chooses.

This isn’t the first time Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s office has taken such a stance on public lands issues. The office has previously opined that Idaho would lose if it tried to sue the federal government for control of public lands on similar grounds ...

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/no-claim-to-fed-land-under-equal-footing-theory-ag/article_fd946a00-5603-5965-91e9-595977f8e77c.html