United States v. Gardner
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
107 F.3d 1314, cert. denied, 522 U.S. 907 (1997)
- Written by Charles McCurdy, JD
Facts
Clifford Gardner and Beth Gardner (defendants) used federal land in the Humboldt National Forest in Nevada for cattle grazing without a permit. Mexico had ceded this land to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War. The United States had retained ownership over 80 percent of the land in Nevada. The Gardners refused to pay a fine to the federal government for unauthorized cattle grazing, and the United States (plaintiff) sued for damages and injunctive relief. The district court granted summary judgment to the United States, enjoining the Gardners from unauthorized cattle grazing and ordering the Gardners to pay the fine. The Gardners appealed, arguing that Nevada should be given title to federal lands within its boundaries under prior dicta, the equal-footing doctrine, Nevada’s Statehood Act, and the Tenth Amendment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Choy, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.