OBAMAS OFFICIALS SCORN THE RULE OF LAW

Spring 2016

FEDS CANCEL REAGAN ENERGY LEASE

In response to the recent cancellation
of a legally issued oil and gas lease and
the denial of the lessees application for
permit to drill (APD), MSLF vowed to
fight back against actions it asserts are
ultra virus, unlawful, illegal, a violation
of the rights of the lessee, and for which
the Obama administration lacks
authority.
The cancellation
came on March 17,
2016, after nearly
a year of hearings
before a federal
district court in
Washington, D.C.
that were characterized by a continuing refusal by top
federal officials and
their attorneys to act on a timely basis.
The cancellation was more than 34 years
after the issuance of the lease in 1982; the
rejection of the APD came 33 years after
it was filed. In June of 2015, the federal
judge hearing the case called the governments conduct, Kafkaesque. [I]t really,
really is troubling. Its very troubling.
In July of 2015, the district court ruled
that the federal governments delay was
illegal as a matter of law and demanded
a timetable for an expeditious decision
regarding the lease and the APD.
Months of foot-dragging followed,
which culminated in a rancorous hearing before the federal district court on
March 16, 2016, at which the federal
government was ordered to issue a final
decision within twenty four hours.
Mr. Longwell of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, won the lease in 1982, but has been
denied the right to explore his property
since initial approval of the APD in 1985.

On behalf of his company, Solenex, LLC,

he sued Secretary of the Interior Sally
Jewell and other Interior Department
and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials in federal district court in the District of Columbia in 2013. He charges the
United States has unlawfully withheld
MOUNTAIN
and unreasonSTATES
ably delayed the
LEGAL
action necessary
FOUNDATION
to permit him to
exercise the rights
Executive Offices:
2596 South Lewis Way
granted him under
Lakewood, Colorado 80227
the lease issued
303-292-2021
by the Bureau of
Fax 303-292-1980
Land Managewww.mountainstateslegal.org
ment (BLM) on
6,247 acres in the
Lewis and Clark
National Forest in
toric Preservation Act (NHPA), amidst
Glacier County,
appeals, and following a ruling by the
Montana in northwestern Montana. A
Interior Board of Land Appeals, in condecade was spent obtaining final apsultation with the U.S. Forest Service, the
proval to drill but,
BLM approved
for the next twenty
the APD in 1985,
years, federal offi1987, 1991, and
cials suspended the
finally in January
lease and barred all
of 1993.
activity.
Nonetheless,
In 1983, Mr.
the Clinton adLongwell assigned
ministration tried
the lease to America
to kill the lease. In
Petrofina Company
1993, 1994, 1995,
of Texas, which
1996, and 1997,
later became Fina
Secretary Babbitt
APD site US Hwy. 2, BNSF RR & Rising Wolf Ranch nearby
Oil and Chemisuspended lease
cal Company. In October of 1983, Fina
activity. In 1998, Babbitt made the sussubmitted an APD to drill near Hall
pension indefinite.
Creek, approximately 2 miles south of
In 1999, FINA assigned its rights
U.S. Highway 2 to evaluate the natuunder the approved APD and lease back
ral gas potential of that portion of the
to Mr. Longwell. In July of 2004, he
Overthrust Belt. After extensive review
assigned his rights to Solenex, which, in
pursuant to the National Environmental
May of 2013, asked that the suspension
Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Hisbe lifted; the request was denied.

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Page One

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE CASE AT AN END

The effort by a Colorado man and a
national gun rights group to have the
Supreme Court of the United States
review a 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversing the ruling of a Colorado federal
district court striking down
U.S. Postal Service regulations restricting Second
Amendment rights
died recently when
the post-Scalia Court
declined review.
Thus ended a six
year long battle to
restore the Second
Amendment rights of
those armed citizens who
drive their vehicles to the local post office to park and transact business.
In 2013, the district court struck
as unconstitutional a rule that bars
firearms in Postal Service parking lots:
[O]penly carrying a firearm outside
the home is a liberty protected by the
Second Amendment [and a] parking
lot adjacent to [a Post Office] is not a
sensitive place [such that] an absolute

ban on firearms is substantially related

to [Defendants] important public
safety objective. Tab Bonidy, who is
licensed to carry a handgun and carries
a handgun for self-defense, must drive
to Avon to get his mail, but he is barred
by federal regulation from
carrying a firearm, or
parking his vehicle if
it contains a firearm
in the lot. Mr. Bonidy
and the National Association for Gun Rights
sued in 2010. MSLF
argued that the ruling of
the Tenth Circuit, contrary
to holdings of the Supreme
Court and lower federal
courts, made the right to keep and bear
arms a second-class right.
The Postal Services total ban on
firearms possession impairs the right
to keep and bear arms as protected by
the Second Amendment even when
individuals are traveling to, from, or
through Postal property because the
Postal Service does not allow people to
store a firearm safely in vehicles.

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WEB PAGE POLL

Visitors to MSLFs website at www.mountainstateslegal.org responded to the
following question: The Federal Aviation Administration abandoned decades
of rigorous tests to be air traffic controllers to increase racial diversity. Is that
constitutional? Eighty-seven percent (87%) said, No: Cancelling race-neutral
testing because of a lack of racial diversity is unconstitutional. Thirteen percent
(13%) said, Yes: The FAAs desire to be a more diverse and inclusive workplace
is constitutional.
Vote on the new question at MSLFs website today!
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PENDLEYS VIEW
In 1981, the Reagan administration,
although unhappy with President
Carters federal coal program, recognized that [l]ess than 1% of federal
coal lands were under lease and new
leasing had been at a virtual standstill since 1971 and that 35% of the
coalwill come from public lands,
and thus implemented that program.
From early 1981 to late 1983, Reagan
officials leased 2.5 billion tons of federal coal, which netted $128.6 million
in bonuses, including 1.5 billion tons
of coal beneath 32,000 acres in Montana and Wyoming.
In 1983, Reagan agreed with congressional calls for another review of
the federal coal program. In late 1985,
Reagan officials revealed the new
program, which increased flexibility,
was orderly and predictable for state
and local governments and industry,
promoted competition, assured fair
market value, ensured adequate data,
clarified surface owner consent, and
established well-defined standards.
Later minor modifications allowed
more leasing to ensure continued
production from Reagan era leases.
Obama plans to kill mining of all
federal coal, and the jobs, communities, and trade payments that go with
it, because environmental groups say
the United States is not getting fair
market value for its coal.
Reagan, to whom Obama compares
himself, faced that issue in 1983. In
his own hand, he wrote, Now voices
are being raised on the Hill saying that
a moratorium should be put on the
leasing of all coal bearing government
lands. Totally forgotten is the fact
that the American people as customers will end up paying for that coal.
Included in the price will be the cost
of the lease and even [the royalty paid
to the government]. It seems to me
[our lease sale] not only protected the
government interests, [it showed] consideration for the ultimate consumer
you and me. Imagine, a president
concerned about us.

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Page Two

SUPREME COURT MUST EASE PARCEL AS A WHOLE RULING

In support of a Wisconsin family,
represented by Pacific Legal Foundation,
MSLF urged the
Supreme Court
of the United
States to limit the
applicability of a
decades-old ruling
that was applied to
a Wisconsin family
that seeks to use
two contiguous
lots that the family has owned for
decades. After losing the case at a Wisconsin trial court, the family appealed to the
Wisconsin Court of Appeals, which ruled
that because the two lots were contiguous
and happened to have the same owners
the parcel as a whole rule in Penn Central
Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104
(1996) applied. The Court of Appeals
ruled that, taken together, the two lots
suffice as a single, buildable lot under the
Ordinance. The court also noted that the

family was entitled to build a year-round

residence, either entirely on one lot, entirely
on the other lot,
or straddling both
lots. The Wisconsin Supreme Court
denied review,
but on January 16,
2015, the Supreme
Court granted the
petition.
The Murr familyfour siblings
collectively owns
two parcels of property in Troy, Wisconsin.
In 1960, their parents purchased the first
parcel, Lot F, in the St. Croix Cove Subdivision on which they built a 950 square
foot cabin; the title was transferred to their
plumbing business. In 1963, they bought
Lot E in the same subdivision, which
remains vacant and undeveloped. In 1994,
they transferred title to Lot F from the company to their children and transferred title
to Lot E from themselves to their children,

both as gifts. Lots E and F are adjacent to

each other and both have frontage on Lake
St. Croix.
In 2004, the Murrs learned that county
zoning regulations prohibited them from
separately developing or selling Lot E
because, in 1975, twelve years after the
parents acquired Lot E, St. Croix County
enacted a zoning regulation, which
required individual lots to contain a net
project area of at least one acre. Although
Lot E is 1.25 acres, more than half of it is
within a floodplain and the lot also has a
substantial slope. Thus, Lot E is left with
a .5 acre net project area and is considered
substandard. If anyone other than
the Murrs owned Lot E, Lot E would be
grandfathered and used as a building
site; but because the Murrs own both Lots
E and F, the grandfather clauses exception does not apply to them. Moreover,
the zoning ordinance prohibits the Murrs
from selling Lot E to anyone else, unless it
is combined with Lot F. St. Croix County
denied the Murrs a variance.

LANDOWNERS SEEK RIGHT TO TEST WETLAND DESIGNATION

Recently MSLF urged the Supreme
Court of the United States to reject the
claim by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that Minnesota property owners
may not challenge its finding that their
land is subject to the Clean Water Act
(CWA) and requires a permit; the claim
is contrary to the Supreme Courts ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection
Agency. Both the Minnesota landowners and the Sackett family of Idaho are
clients of Pacific Legal Foundation.
The Corps made a final jurisdictional
determination that Hawkes land was
a wetland subject to the CWA and
required lengthy permitting. When
Hawkes challenged, a federal district
court held the Corps determination
was not final; an appeals court reversed. On December 11, 2015, the
Supreme Court granted the Corps petition for writ of certiorari. MSLF argues
that the Corps increased Hawkes liability in the future and limited their ability to obtain a future permit; therefore,
its determination is final under Sackett.

Hawkes Co., Inc.; LPF Properties, LLC; and Pierce Investment Co.
own property interests in 530 acres in
Marshall County, Minnesota, which
they plan to use for peat mining, a
wetland-dependent activity. In December of 2010,
Hawkes applied
for a 404 permit.
In March of 2011,
the Corps advised
Hawkes in writing
that it had made
a preliminary
determination that
the land contains
wetlands; thus, at
a minimum, an environmental assessment would be required. Later, the
Corps told Hawkes that the permit
would take years and be very costly;
thus, Hawkes should sell the land to a
wetlands bank. In August of 2011,
the Corps sent Hawkes another letter, listing additional time-consuming
requirements for obtaining a permit.

Hawkes challenged the Corps

preliminary determination. After an
administrative appeal, the Corps issued
a final Corps permit decision that
the land contains wetlands that have
a significant nexus to a downstream
traditional navigable waterway.
Hawkes filed suit
in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Minnesota, which held
that the Corps
ruling was not
final agency action
under the Administrative Procedure Act. Hawkes
appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Eighth Circuit, which reversed
in light of the penalties the Corps may
impose under the CWA for discharges
into navigable waters without a required permit, or in violation of any
issued permit, based on the Corps
wetlands determination.

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Page Three

SUMMARY JUDGMENT - WILLIAM PERRY PENDLEYS LATEST

For 25 years, MSLF president William
Perry Pendley has written a hard-hitting
monthly column decrying breaches of the
rule of law, abridgment of constitutional
liberties, and unwise public policies.
Over the years, his writings have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street
Journal, Washington Post, New York Post,
Washington Times, USA Today, Cow Country, Landman, Loggers World, Miners News,
and many other publications across the
country. He has assembled his favorite
columns into an impressive, fact-filled,
strong opinions-laced, paperback volume
entitled, Summary Judgment: 25 Years of
Condemning Treachery, Tyranny, and Injustice. It is a great read.

Sagebrush Rebel: Reagans Battle

Against Environmental Extremists and
Why It Matters Today (Regnery, 2013):

William Perry Pendleys first two

booksIt Takes A Hero: The Grassroots
Battle Against Environmental Oppression
(Free Enterprise Press, 1994) and War on
the West: Government Tyranny on Americas Great Frontier (Regnery, 1995)drew
high praise. Likewise his recent books:

Paul Kengor, author of The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism

Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups, and Liberal Judges on
Americas Frontier (Regnery, 2006):

The truth is in Sagebrush Rebel.

Mark R. Levin
We must take up Reagans fight to
preserve the American way of life. Sagebrush
Rebel shows us how.
Michelle Malkin

The columns began with January of

1990, Mr. Pendleys first full year with
MSLF, and were called Summary Judgment. (In the law, summary judgment
may be granted when no genuine issues
of material facts are in dispute and it is
mandated as a matter of law.) Chapter
titles include:
An Environmental President

Linda Chavez

Clintons War on the West

Nonsense Runs Through It

Bush Goes Green and Loses
A Shift to the Right

Edwin Meese, III

Victory Before the Supreme Court

Clinton Escalates His War on the West
Crimes Against Nature
Grizzly Bears and Self-Defense
U.S. GovernmentLike Nobodys
Business

This is indeed a call to action.

Hugh Hewitt

Life, Liberty, and Property

Whither the War on the West

NOW AN AUDIOBOOK!

Sagebrush Rebel becomes even
more relevant with each passing day
and the news from across the country.
No need to miss out on this amazing
untold history of Ronald Reagan; it is
now available as an audiobook read by
the author himself. FREE with a $25
contribution to MSLF.

25 Years of
Condemning
Treachery,
Tyranny, and
Injustice

Sagebrush Rebel illuminates a forgotten Reagan warnot with the Soviets but
environmental extremists.

Perry is a skilled legal advocate [and] a

master storyteller; however, the tales he tells
are not for the faint of heartprepare to be
infuriated!

William Perry Pendley, who has litigated

these issues, has performed an extremely
valuable service by making the academic
accessible.

Summary
Judgment

Clintons Justice Departments Tenth Year

Government Lawyers and Justice
Ronald Reagan, Sagebrush Rebel,
Rest in Peace
America at War
A Color-Blind Constitution
Bureaucrats Behaving Badly

WILLIAM PERRY PENDLEY

Author of Sagebrush Rebel

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Sue and SettleUnconstitutional Tactic
The Threat of Domestic Terrorism
The Commerce Clause and Freedom
Equal Access to Justice
President Obamas Department of
the Interior
If one truth emerges from all of these
essays over the years, it is that expressed
by Ronald Reagan in 1961: Freedom is
never more than one generation away
from extinction. We didnt pass it on to
our children in the bloodstream. It must
be fought for, protected, and handed
on for them to do the same, or one day
we will spend our sunset years telling
our children and our childrens children
what it was once like in the United States
where men were free.

KEEP READING!

The Litigator, MSLFs quarterly
newsletter, is the indispensable tool for
staying informed regarding the latest in
MSLFs precedent-setting, nationallysignificant, public-interest litigation. The
Litigator is mailed on the first of February,
May, August, and November. Ensure
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Summary Judgment is FREE with a $25.00 contribution to MSLF.

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Page Four

MSLF receives no government funds (except when it wins in court and the judge
orders the federal government to pay attorneys fees and expenses).

Mountain States Legal

Foundation (MSLF) Is A
Nonprofit, Public-Interest
Legal Foundation, That Is
A 501(c)(3) Organization,
Since Its 1977 Founding.

MSLFs sole source of support is the tax-deductible contributions of those who

support its aggressive litigation program.
MSLF is a nonprofit, public-interest I.R.C. 501(c)(3) corporation, which makes the
contributions it receives tax deductible.
MSLF is committed to the vision of the Founding Fathers: individual liberty,
the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and the free
enterprise system.

Therefore, Your Generous

Contributions To MSLF Are
Tax Deductible!

MSLF CANNOT REST;

ITS ROLE ESSENTIAL
TO REMAINING FREE
In 2016, MSLF will have been going
to court for 39 years, fighting to compel
compliance with the commands of the
Constitution and federal law to ensure
that America remains a nation of laws. At
no time during these nearly four decades
has the need for MSLF to go to court on
behalf of those who could not afford legal
representation been lessened. In fact, as
the federal bureaucracy has grown and as
federal laws have become more far-reaching and intrusive, MSLFs caseload has
increased dramatically. That is obvious
from a review of the scores of MSLF cases
all across America.

Your Support Is Vital

If there is one lesson MSLF has learned
over the past 39 years, it is that, regardless of which party occupies the White
House or controls Congress, the threat to
liberty remains and MSLF must be ready,
willing, and able to go to court to defend
freedom. As Thomas Jefferson once said,
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
One of the prices that must be paid for
MSLF to remain vigilant is the price that
tens of thousands of Americans pay
annually by making their tax-deductible
contributions to MSLF and its aggressive
litigation in defense of freedom.
The support of MSLF by tens of thousands of Americans committed to freedom could not be more important. Your
support will ensure that MSLF remains
IN THE COURTS FOR GOOD!

MSLFs commitment to the Constitution ensures that America remains a nation

of laws and not of men and that the rich liberty legacy of this nation continues.
MSLF does only one thing: it goes to court in defense of the Constitution, strict
adherence to the laws of the land, and those who cannot afford to hire legal counsel to protect their rights.
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Page Five

JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA AMERICAS GREATEST JURIST - RIP

Justice Antonin Gregory Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States, died at the age of 79
on February 13, 2016, while in Texas;
he had served 29 years on the Court
since his appointment by President
Ronald Reagan. A staunch defender of
a constitutionalist or
originalist approach to
the Constitutionthe
words of the Constitution mean what
they were understood
to mean when they
were written, textualisminterpreting the
text of written law
without going beyond
the intent of those
legislators who wrote
the law, and the rule
of law as opposed to,
in the words of Aristotle, the personal
discretion to do justice, Justice Scalia
was also an extraordinary writer whose
opinions were both eminently readable and eminently quotable.
The only child of Salvadore Eugene
and Catherine Panaro Scalia, Justice
Scalias father emigrated from Sicily as
a teenager through Ellis Island, earned
a college degree, and became a professor of romance languages at Brooklyn
College; his mother, a first generation
Italian-American, was an elementary
school teacher until his birth. He grew
up in a multi-ethnic neighborhood of
Queens in New York City, attended
a public elementary school where he
earned straight As, and graduated from
Xavier High School in Manhattan, a
military school run by the Jesuit order
of the Catholic Church, first in his class.
In 1957, he graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. as
valedictorian and summa cum laude with
a B.A. degree in history and earned his
law degree from Harvard Law School.
He married Maureen McCarthy, then
an undergraduate at Radcliffe College
in 1960; the couple had nine children
and more than thirty grandchildren.
Justice Scalia began his legal career
at Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis in

Cleveland, Ohio in 1961, but in 1967

took a professorial position at the
University of Virginia Law School and
moved his family to Charlottesville. In
1972, President Richard Nixon appointed him general counsel for the Office of
Telecommunications Policy. In 1974,
Scalia was appointed
Assistant Attorney
General for the Office
of Legal Council.
After a brief time at
the American Enterprise Institute and a
teaching post at the
University of Chicago
Law School, he was
appointed to the U.S.
Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia by President Reagan in 1982. In 1986,
he was confirmed Associate Justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court upon the retirement of Chief Justice Warren Burger.
Justice Scalia played a prominent
role in precedent-setting litigation by
MSLF. As usual, his opinions were
exceptional, withstand the test of time,
and will be quoted and cited to for so
long as the Republic survives.
In Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pea,
MSLFs challenge to the use of racial
quotas and preferences by the federal
government, Justice Scalia concurred in
a ruling that struck down earlier Court
rulings that upheld the practice:
In my view, government can never
have a compelling interest in discriminating on the basis of race in order to
make up for past racial discrimination
in the opposite direction. [Citation
omitted.] Individuals who have been
wronged by unlawful racial discrimination should be made whole; but
under our Constitution there can be
no such thing as either a creditor or a
debtor race. That concept is alien to the
Constitutions focus upon the individual, see Amdt. 14, 1 ([N]or shall
any State . . . deny to any person the
equal protection of the laws) (emphasis
added), and its rejection of dispositions based on race, see Amdt. 15, 1

(prohibiting abridgment of the right to

vote on account of race) or based on
blood, see Art. III, 3 ([N]o Attainder
of Treason shall work Corruption of
Blood); Art. I, 9 (No Title of Nobility
shall be granted by the United States).
To pursue the concept of racial entitlementeven for the most admirable
and benign of purposesis to reinforce
and preserve for future mischief the
way of thinking that produced race
slavery, race privilege and race hatred.
In the eyes of government, we are just
one race here. It is American. 515 U.S.
200, 239 (1995)
In Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, the Court ruled that an environmental group lacked standing to challenge a federal program initiated by
the Reagan administration; MSLF had
brought a similar lawsuit as to which
its petition was granted and MSLF
prevailed based on the ruling in Lujan.
Justice Scalia wrote for the 5-4 Court:
[I]t is at least entirely certain that
the flaws in the entire programconsisting principally of the many individual actions referenced in the complaint,
and presumably actions yet to be taken
as wellcannot be laid before the
courts for wholesale correction under
the [Administrative Procedure Act],
simply because one of them that is ripe
for review adversely affects one of respondents members. The case-by-case
approach that this requires is understandably frustrating to an organization
such as respondent, which has as its
objective across-the-board protection of
our Nations wildlife and the streams
and forests that support it. But this is
the traditional, and remains the normal,
mode of operation of the courts. Except
where Congress explicitly provides for
our correction of the administrative
process at a higher level of generality,
we intervene in the administration of
the laws only when, and to the extent
that, a specific final agency action has
an actual or immediately threatened
effect. [Citation omitted.] Such an intervention may ultimately have the effect of requiring a regulation, a series of
regulations, or even a whole program

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Page Six

SCALIA (cont.)
to be revised by the agency in order
to avoid the unlawful result that the
court discerns. But it is assuredly not
as swift or as immediately far-reaching
a corrective process as those interested
in systemic improvement would desire.
Until confided to us, however, more
sweeping actions are for the other
branches. 497 U.S. 871, 892-894 (1990).
In Johnson v. Transportation Agency,
Santa Clara Cty., MSLFs challenge to
a state agencys decision to promote
an employee based on her sex and not
qualifications, Justice Scalia dissented
from the Courts holding that the promotion did not violate the federal Civil
Rights Act:
With a clarity which, had it not
proven so unavailing, one might well
recommend as a model of statutory
draftsmanship, Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 declares: It shall be
an unlawful employment practice for
an employer(1) to fail or refuse to
hire or to discharge any individual, or
otherwise to discriminate against any
individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges
of employment, because of such individuals race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or (2) to limit, segregate,
or classify his employees or applicants
for employment in any way which
would deprive or tend to deprive any
individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his
status as an employee, because of such
individuals race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin.
The Court today completes the
process of converting this from a
guarantee that race or sex will not be
the basis for employment determinations to a guarantee that it often will.
Ever so subtly, without even alluding
to the last obstacles preserved by earlier
opinions that we now push out of our
path, we effectively replace the goal of
a discrimination-free society with the
quite incompatible goal of proportionate representation by race and by sex in
the workplace. 480 U.S. 616, 657-658
(1987).

NOTABLE

I trust that you will win this [FAA

case] for the safety of all those that fly.
John R. Lemmons
Kelso, WA

QUOTES
Thank you for your vital work.
Douglas A. Arnell
Centennial, CO
Keep up your good work.
William T. Eppard
Wickenburg, AZ
MSLF helps people who are between a
rock and a hard spot with no where to go.
H. Ripples Berger
Payson, AZ
[Y]our CD set on Sagebrush Rebel
is filled with the kind of insights our folks
need to hear to feel good about standing up
to those who want to save the world.
Michael J. Stoffler
Commerce City, CO
It is sad that the only way to preserve
our way of life is through litigation, but that
is the reality.
Leslie Hendry
Lysite, WY
I look forward to reading [Summary
Judgment].
Philip Harrill
Evergreen, CO
Take care and keep up the good work.
Kathryn L. Minter
Alto, NM
Thanks for all you do to help protect
our gun rights.
Paul L. Page
Spokane, WA
We thank you for defending the rights
of ranchers and agriculture.
David Stroh
Walsenburg, CO

I donate as I can because your cause is

just and honorable.
James D. Kerns
Richland Springs, TX
I want you to know I look forward to
each issue of The Litigator. Keep it up!
John K. Duckworth
Nesbit, MS
[T]hank you for the good work you do
for land owners across the west.
John Youngberg
Bozeman, MT
Keep up the good work fighting
against overzealous government regulations at all levels, the EPA, and a lawless
president who uses executive orders to
bypass Congress and the Constitution of the
United States of America.
Jim Hicks
Hacienda Heights, CA
Thank you for what you do.
Victor Mitchell
Cambria, CA
You people are really great. May the
Good Lord bless you.
Robert Doane
Saint Paul, MN
[T]hank you for your steadfast courageous actions. Rather than upholding the
Constitution and ensuring the Rule of Law,
our government instigates one abuse after
another. We people need a staunch warrior
like you.
Margaret L. Brady
Centennial, CO
The FAA hiring minority plans are a
danger to our aviation security and to the
safety of all Americans. Keep up the good
work and God bless Justice Scalia. May he
rest in peace.
James J. Shaver
New Palestine, IN

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Page Seven

MOUNTAIN
STATES
LEGAL
FOUNDATION
2596 South Lewis Way
Lakewood, Colorado 80227

Non Profit Organization

U.S. Postage
PAID
Denver, CO
Permit No. 847

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

William Perry Pendley

VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER

Steven J. Lechner

VICE PRESIDENTADMINISTRATION

Janice K. Alvarado

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

John J. Blomstrom, WY; Chairman

Don Sparks, TX; Vice Chairman
Frank S. Priestley, ID; Secretary
Roy G. Cohee, WY; Treasurer
Ernest Angelo, TX
Stephen M. Brophy, AZ
Roger Cymbaluk, ND
John R. Gibson, NV
Samuel D. Haas, NM
L. Jerald Sheffels, WA

OBAMA OFFICIALS DELAY ANSWERING RACIALISM CHARGE

In response to a class action lawsuit filed by MSLF on
Component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendbehalf of 2,500 to 3,000 men and women across the country
ment of the Constitution.
whose names were purged illegally and unconstitutionally
The lawsuit followed a shocking story broken by Fox
from the list of eligible applicants to become air traffic controlNews Adam Shapiro, that the FAA, which is responsible for
lers (ATCs), the Obama administration obtained a substantial
maintaining the safety of the thousands of aircraft that transdelay to file its answer to the December 30, 2015, complaint
verse the United States on a daily basis, abandoned a carefully
filed in Arizona federal district court
developed process for hiring the nations
by aviation lawyer and local counsel
best and brightest ATCs thus endangerMichael Pearson, Esq., a retired air trafing the lives of millions of Americans.
fic controller who practices in Phoenix,
The change came following an all but
against the Federal Aviation Adminisunnoticed announcement by President
tration (FAA), the U.S. Department of
Obamas new FAA Administration,
Transportation, the Office of Civil Rights
Michael Huerta, in May of 2013, to
of the Department of Transportation,
transform the Federal Aviation Adminand three high-ranking officials. The
istration (FAA) into a more diverse and
lawsuit was filed on behalf of Andrew
inclusive workplace that reflects, underJ. Brigida, who earned two B.S. degrees Photo Credit: Tech. Sgt. Peter R. Miller/U.S. Air Force
stands, and relates to the diverse customfrom Arizona State University and received a one-hundred
ers we serve. Thereafter, the FAA scraped its use of difficult
percent score on the AT-SAT examination. In January of 2014,
cognitive assessment tests and implemented instead use of a
he received a Dear Applicant email from the FAA advising
new and highly debatable personality testBQthat included
him his scores were no longer valid and that he must reapply
such questions as: The number of high school sports I parafter taking the Biographical Questionnaire (BQ), which he,
ticipated in was. How would you describe your ideal job?
like most of the other highly qualified applicants, failed. MSLF
What has been the major cause of your failures? More
contends on his behalf and on behalf of the class he represents
classmates would remember me as humble or dominant?
that the actions of the Obama administration violate Title VII
Discarded in the process was a thoughtful program begun
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and violate the Equal Protection
in 1994 to hire the most qualified ATCs.

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