American Lands Council
Did You Know... 
A state's enabling act is a solemn compact!

July 24, 2013
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This Week's Challenge:
  • Share the White Paper and its Summary with at least 5 people.
  • Don Carpenter Show 6-4-13 - Ken Ivory Take Back Federal Lands
    Don Carpenter Show 6-4-13 - Ken Ivory Take Back Federal Lands
    Did You Know ...

    The TPLA merely articulate the federal government's duty to dispose of public lands and demands that it comply.



     

    Please share this White Paper
    by Dr. Donald J. Kochan



    Greetings!

    From the earliest days of our nation until 1976, it was generally recognized that Congress had a duty to honor its promise to the states that it would dispose of the public lands and transfer title to the remaining public lands, back to the states.  

    In 1976, Congress decided that it no longer wished to do so.  It created the Federal Land Policy Management Act, through which they announced that Congress would no longer dispose of the public lands, as it was legally bound to do.  Rather, they decided that it was now their "policy" to hold on to these public lands...indefinitely.  It is critical to help our nation understand that Congress never had the right to do so.  And we have been suffering at the hands of their failed "policy" ever since.  
    As Dr. Donald J. Kochan wrote in the White Paper, recently commissioned by the Federalist Society, 

     

     

    "the legal rules for construction of written instruments requires that the UEA [Utah Enabling Act] is read and interpreted as a whole document to give effect to the full bargain struck in the agreement.  Longstanding precedents support the theory that the UEA is a bilateral compact that should be treated like it is, and interpreted as, a binding contractual agreement.  For one thing, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that federal commitments made to the sovereign states at the time of their entry into the Union are serious and enforceable.

     

    "Furthermore, as the U.S. Supreme Court explained in Andrus v. Utah, promises in Enabling Acts are "'solemn agreement[s]' which in some ways may be analogized to a contract between private parties." ... the agreements within Utah's Enabling Act and others like it "were solemn bilateral compacts between each State and the Federal Government." Powell later in his opinion further describes the "bilateral" nature of the compact.  ...  Both parties had corresponding rights and duties.

     

    "Moreover, in Andrus, the U.S. Supreme Court also recognized that these compacts anticipate remedies for breach - even against the federal government if it fails to perform duties arising under the compact."

     

    In short, Congress cannot simply choose not to abide by the solemn contracts entered into upon a state's admission into the Union.  

     

    Please take the time to study the following links, and share them with your elected leaders, your friends, and other community leaders.  Please request an analysis of this important legal study from your city, county, state or other attorneys or legal advisors. Please let us know if they come up with any valid arguments that may refute any portion of the White Paper.  We haven't heard any yet ...

     

    Federalist Society White Paper

    Executive Summary of Federalist Society White Paper

     

    Sincerely, 

     

    Ken Ivory

    ALC President

     

    P.S. Click here to discover how you can stand with the American Lands Council, and help this work move forward.   
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