Supreme Court Hears Vehicle Access Lawsuit
On Monday, March 29, 2004, the United States
Supreme Court heard oral argument in an administrative law case
focusing on the manner in which special interest groups can challenge
federal agency management of vehicle access to Utah desert lands. The
case was originally filed in 1999 by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
(“SUWA”) and other groups, who contend that the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) has
“failed to act” to protect wilderness study areas and other lands. Also
parties to the case are the BlueRibbon Coalition and the Utah Shared Access Alliance
(“USA-All”), who intervened in the original suit on behalf of off
highway vehicle recreation interests and filed the motion to dismiss
leading to appellate proceedings before the 10th Circuit Court of
Appeals and the Supreme Court.
The Court led the arguing attorneys through a spirited and wide-ranging
argument. Commentators and media observers characterized the Court as
generally “unsympathetic” to SUWA’s claim that BLM had failed to act on
its management duties, noting that there exist other and more
traditional methods by which to assert the insufficiency of agency
actions. Filing a merits brief in the case and attending the argument
on behalf of the vehicle access advocates were lead counsel Paul Turcke
of the BlueRibbon Legal Action Program and local counsel Paul Mortensen
of USA-All.
“This case is both legally and factually complex, and observers and
interest groups have found varied facets of it to emphasize,” Turcke
observed. “In the end, this case is about whether a special interest
group can invite ongoing judicial oversight of agency management simply
by alleging the agency has ‘failed to act’ fully on some broad
management duty”.
Access opponents conveniently overlook the BLM actions to aggressively
manage vehicular access in vast portions of Utah’s desert to protect
the back country character. “These groups seem to be focused on
eliminating access to the fraction of these areas where families can
still ride,” Turcke concluded.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist announced at the close of argument that
the case has been submitted to the Court. The parties anticipate a
decision in the case as early as this summer.
