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''Kleppe v. New Mexico'', 426 U.S. 529 (1976), was a
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision that unanimously held the
Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), is an Act of Congress (), signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971. The act covered the management, protection and study of "unbranded and unclaimed horse ...
, passed in 1971 by the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
to protect these animals from "capture, branding, harassment, or death", to be a constitutional exercise of congressional power. In February 1974, the New Mexico Livestock Board rounded up and sold 19 unbranded
burro The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
s from
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's l ...
(BLM) land. When the BLM demanded the animals' return, the state filed suit claiming that the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was unconstitutional, claiming the federal government did not have the power to control animals in federal lands unless they were items in
interstate commerce The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among ...
or causing damage to the
public lands In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land ( Australia, and Canada). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countr ...
.


Background

In 1971, Congress passed the
Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), is an Act of Congress (), signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971. The act covered the management, protection and study of "unbranded and unclaimed horse ...
, (later codified at , ''et seq.'') (WFRHBA). The act covered the management, protection and study of "unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands in the United States." The act requires the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organ ...
to protect and manage wild horses as a component of public property of the United States. Free ranging horses are to be protected from "capture, branding, harassment, or death." The managing agencies are the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's l ...
(BLM) for
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and the Forest Service (USFS) for
Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
. The state of
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...
challenged the federal government's authority to manage wild horses within the boundaries of New Mexico. A New Mexican rancher, Kelly Stephenson, found wild burros grazing on his land and on the federal land where he had a grazing permit. Stephenson complained to BLM, and when BLM refused to remove the burros, to the New Mexico Livestock Board. The New Mexico Livestock Board, acting under state law then seized nineteen burros from federal land and sold them at public auction. The BLM asserted jurisdiction under the WFRHBA and demanded the return of the animals. New Mexico then filed suit in the
federal district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
, claiming that the federal law was unconstitutional.


District court

The case was heard by a three judge panel consisting of Oliver Seth, Edwin Mechem, and Harry Payne. The panel declared the WFRHBA unconstitutional, stating that its authority was derived from the "territorial clause," Article IV of the
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
, but that animals do not become federal property simply by being on federal land. Citing cases where the federal government regulated deer populations based on damage to federal lands, but arguing that the WFRHBA presented no evidence that horses or burros were inflicting damage, the court enjoined the federal government from enforcing the Act, holding that the statute unconstitutionally exceeded the federal government's authority by protecting free-roaming horses and burros, rather than the land upon which they lived.


Supreme Court

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Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African- ...
delivered the opinion of a unanimous court. The Court interpreted the property clause broadly and found the WFRHBA a constitutional exercise of Congressional authority, holding, "the Property Clause also gives Congress the power to protect wildlife on the public lands, state law notwithstanding." wrote that the complete power' that Congress has over public lands necessarily includes the power to regulate and protect the wildlife living there." In addition, the Court said that Congress may enact legislation governing federal lands pursuant to the property clause and "when Congress so acts, federal legislation necessarily overrides conflicting state laws under the supremacy clause."''Kleppe,'' 426 U.S. at 543


See also

* List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 426


Notes


References


Further reading

* * Fischman, Robert L., and Jeremiah I. Williamson. "The Story of Kleppe v. New Mexico: The Sagebrush Rebellion as Un-Cooperative Federalism." ''University of Colorado Law Review'' 83 (2011): 123
online


External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Kleppe v. New Mexico'', {{Ussc, 426, 529, 1976, el=no , findlaw =https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/426/529.html , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/426/529/ , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep426/usrep426529/usrep426529.pdf , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/74-1488 United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court United States land use case law 1976 in the environment 1976 in United States case law Feral horses Legal history of New Mexico United States Department of the Interior