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CLOSING RANGE DAVE SKINNER A CHAMPION FALLS
GUEST COLUMN BRIAN SYBERT
THE ANTIDOTE TO ANTI-PUBLIC ILANDS EXTREMISM
T’S BEEN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO the BCSP has proposed designating miss the headlines about armed 87,000 acres of wilderness additions to extremists and radical politicians the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Mis-
THE SUDDEN DEATH OF U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia comes as a shock on many levels. Any time America loses a great mind, all Americans lose. Justice Scalia was, by all accounts, one of only a handful in the federal judiciary whose opinions were actually readable, whether or not one agreed with his reasoning. He could also give a pretty good lecture. Whether reading or listening to Justice Scalia, I for one could always count on learning something useful.
I say useful because Justice Scalia could articulate and defend a conserva- tive interpretation of the Constitution better than anyone else on the Supreme Court – a real champion.
We all like to pretend our judiciary is evenhanded, nonpartisan – you know, “just.” But the reality is less ideal, espe- cially at the top. Appointees to the Supreme Court are given a lifetime power to choose, hear and settle questions of law that are not just technical, but some- times bitterly ideological.
Every single Supreme Court decision has the potential to empower, or render utterly impotent, the other two branches of federal government. Add in the fact that all the legislative, administrative and legal actions of state and local gov- ernments are also under the oversight of the U.S. Supreme Court, and we’re talking some pretty serious power – the power to set or remove limits on govern- ment power itself.
Justices are given the power of kings (and queens, I guess) – and picking our uniquely American court royalty has always been di cult.
Prior to Scalia’s death, the conven- tional wisdom was the next President could expect to nominate, and the Senate to con rm, replacements for the four jus- tices in their late 70s and early 80s – one conservative, one “swinger,” and two lib- erals. The future “balance” of the court would hinge on who Americans chose for the White House and Senate in 2016.
Then the conservative died.
Now our liberal lame-duck president will exercise his right to nominate who will almost certainly be someone Presi- dent Barack Obama trusts to protect his “legacy” after he leaves o ce.
Senate Republicans can’t stop Obama
from making a nomination. The Con- stitution, Article II Section 2, reads the president “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint [...] Judges of the Supreme Court.” There’s nothing in there about lame ducks or impending elections – nor is there anything saying the Senate has to con rm any nominee.
Does the makeup of the Supreme Court matter? Vastly, in ways that matter to Montana. For example, the week prior to Scalia’s death, the Supreme Court froze enforcement of President Obama’s so-called “Clean Power Plan.”
What happens with the CPP matters to Montana, because in the long run, CPP will determine the fate of Colstrip and Montana’s vast coal reserves. Five con- servatives supported freezing CPP imple- mentation, with the four liberals wanting to keep the process underway while the rule is fought over in a lower court. With Scalia gone, the Supreme Court is dead- locked 4-4 – leaving the lower, Obama- packed court in charge.
Another example – I’m a member of the National Ri e Association. For the last few years, the NRA has been warn- ing members that the two big Supreme Court decisions a rming the individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms came from deeply divided 5-4 decisions. There was no common ground between the factions.
What if the majority ips and the math changes? Will I be burying all those guns and ammo (which I don’t have) until the Supreme Court ips back? Will I dig all that stu (which I don’t have) back up again if the Supreme Court doesn’t ip back?
The Left has big hopes for the Supreme Court. Before Justice Scalia died, some progressive pundits were oating scenar- ios where the old 5-4 mix would rapidly become a 6-3 “progressive” majority for the long term.
Now that Justice Scalia is gone, the potential for a major leftward ideolog- ical shift on the Supreme Court is even greater – everything will depend on how Americans vote in 2016. As the liberal Brookings Institution put it, “if a Dem- ocrat succeeds Obama, the Court’s con- servatism will be buried with [Scalia].”
trying to destroy our national public lands legacy. From Washington, D.C. to the Malheur National Wildlife Ref- uge, sel shness and delusional inter- pretations of the U.S. Constitution have come together in support of a disastrous agenda aimed squarely at one thing: tak- ing national public lands away from the American people.
But neither the armed militants at Malheur nor the suit-clad lands trans- fer zealots in Utah and D.C. have antic- ipated how much the American people, Westerners in particular, value pub- lic lands. In January, Colorado College released its sixth-annual bipartisan Conservation in the West Poll, showing that Western voters, including Mon- tanans, see American public lands as integral to our economy and way of life and overwhelmingly oppose e orts to weaken and seize those lands.
The poll also revealed that West- erners strongly support people work- ing together to nd common-ground solutions to public land challenges, and herein lies the antidote to the toxic anti-public lands agenda represented by the likes of the Bundy gang and the American Lands Council. Communi- ty-driven collaboratives not only result in the protection of wild places, the cre- ation of new jobs, and the advancement of our public lands legacy, they also nourish our nation’s democracy.
The Blackfoot Clearwater Steward- ship Project (BCSP) and the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition (KFSC) are two homegrown examples of collab- oratives that demonstrate the power of people putting their di erences aside to craft solutions that meet a spectrum of needs.
In 2015, the BCSP celebrated 10 years of hard work restoring a watershed that provides essential habitat for grizzly bears, bull trout, elk, mountain goats, and other key species. In addition to pro- moting outdoor recreation and provid- ing opportunities for forest restoration,
sion Mountain Wilderness Areas and a new snowmobile area north of Ovando. Similarly, the KFSC in northwest-
ern Montana has overcome 30 years of intense local con ict over management of the Kootenai National Forest and uni- ed around an agreement that includes more than 180,000 acres of wilderness designation, doubling the size of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness and for- ever protecting the Yaak Valley roadless areas and the Scotchman Peaks. Their agreement also includes thoughtful rec- ommendations for sustainable timber harvest and a proposal for expanded snowmobile use.
Finding common ground is a chal- lenging endeavor, but it’s something Montanans have been doing for decades when it comes to solving con ict around our public lands. Without this kind of solution-oriented approach and com- mitment to cooperation, there would be no Bob Marshall, no Beartooth-Ab- saroka, no Selway-Bitterroot, or any other designated wilderness area that Montanans now cherish. Without col- laboration, many stream and forest res- toration projects would never have been completed.
It is hard to imagine a more cyn- ical and disastrous agenda for our nation’s outdoor heritage than what the anti-public lands extremists are ped- dling. It’s also hard to imagine an agenda more poisonous for Montana’s com- munities. You only need to look at the divisiveness and civil turmoil that the Bundy gang brought to Burns, Oregon to have an idea of what our communities would like should the anti-public lands movement gain a foothold in Montana.
Let’s confront the anti-public lands militants and the lands transfer radicals by continuing our tradition of working together as a community and nding solutions to our public land challenges that includes protecting special places for all Americans.
“THE LEFT HAS BIG HOPES FOR THE SUPREME COURT.”
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
“FINDING COMMON GROUND IS A CHALLENGING ENDEAVOR, BUT IT’S SOMETHING MONTANANS HAVE BEEN DOING FOR DECADES.”
Brian Sybert is executive director of Montana Wilderness Association.
FEBRUARY 24, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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