States' Push For Control Of Federal Lands Has Weak Legal Footing
by Michelle L. Price AP
Sept. 30, 2016 12:48 p.m.
Updated: Sept. 30, 2016 1:49 p.m.
Salt Lake City
A new legal analysis from a group of Western attorneys general casts doubt on many of the arguments Utah has put forward in its push to gain control of millions of acres of federal land.
The report, based on two years of work, doesnt address every argument Utah has floated, but it points out decisions by the Supreme Court and other federal courts that could put Utah on shaky ground if it sues the U.S. government for control. The analysis was drafted by lawyers from seven Republican attorneys general, three Democrats and one independent ...
The Conference of Western Attorneys General, made up of the top law officers in 15 western states and three U.S. territories, voted 11-1 to approve the report at their annual meeting in Idaho this summer ...
The lawyers that worked on the report came from attorneys general offices in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming ...
http://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-oregon-standoff-bundy-militia-news-updates/west-states-claim-federal-land-lawsuit-weak/