Utah vs. the United States of America
This spring, Utah governor Gary
Herbert signed a law that authorizes the state's attorney general to file suits
to condemn federal land.
The process is called “eminent
domain,” and generally it involves acquiring private property for a public
purpose, such as a new city reservoir. If the city can't come to terms with the
property owners, it can use its power of eminent domain to force the owner to
sell. In theory, the city pays fair market value, since the Fifth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution states that "nor shall private property be taken for
public use, without just compensation."
But federal land (nearly 65 percent
of Utah's 84,916 square miles) is public property, not private, and the
Constitution also states that "This Constitution, and the Laws of the
United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof ... shall be the supreme
Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any
Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary
notwithstanding."
With the "supremacy
clause" making it pretty clear about who's in charge, why is Utah
challenging the feds on land ownership and usage?
There are two answers. One is that
this is just a continuation of Utah's long struggle against the federal
government. The other is that the state government
wants to improve school funding without raising taxes.
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