The
United States and Mexico signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. In that treaty, Mexico ceded land that includes the present-day state of
Nevada to the
United States. 9 Stat. 922 (1848);
see also Sparrow v. Strong, 70 U.S. (3 Wall.) 97, 104, 18 L.Ed. 49 (1865) ("The Territory, of which
Nevada is a part, was acquired by Treaty."). The language of the Treaty itself refers to the land ceded by Mexico to the
United States as "territories previously belonging to Mexico, and which remain for the future within the limits of the
United States." 9 Stat. 922, 929 (1848). Courts in the
United States have uniformly found that title to the land first passed to the
United States through the Treaty.
See, e.g., United States v. California, 436 U.S. 32, 34 n. 3, 98 S.Ct. 1662, 1663 n. 3, 56 L.Ed.2d 94 (1978) (stating that, under the Treaty, "all nongranted lands previously held by the Government of Mexico passed into the federal public domain");
Cappaert v. United States, 426 U.S. 128, 131, 96 S.Ct. 2062, 2066, 48 L.Ed.2d 523 (1976) (stating that a limestone cavern located in
Nevada is "situated on land owned by the
United States since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848").
The claim by Gardners that it is the duty of the
United States to hold public lands in trust for the formation of future
states is founded on a case dealing with land acquired by the
United States from the thirteen original
states. In that case,
Pollard's Lessee v. Hagan, 44 U.S. (3 How.) 212, 11 L.Ed. 565 (1845), the Supreme Court discussed the extent of the
United States' authority over lands ceded to it from Virginia and Georgia to discharge debt incurred by those
states during the Revolutionary War. The Court stated that the
United States held this land 1318*1318 in trust for the establishment of future
states.
Id. 44 U.S. (3 How.) at 222. Once those new
states were established, the
United States' authority over the land would cease.
Id. at 221-23. This decision was based on the terms of the cessions of the land from Virginia and Georgia to the
United States. Before becoming a state, however,
Nevada had no independent claim to sovereignty, unlike the original thirteen
states. Therefore, the same reasoning is not applicable to this case, in which the federal government was the initial owner of the land from which the state of
Nevada was later carved.
Thus, as the
United States has held title to the unappropriated public lands in
Nevada since Mexico ceded the land to the
United States in 1848, the land is the property of the
United States. The
United States Constitution provides in the Property Clause that Congress has the power "to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the
United States." U.S. Const. art. IV, § 3, cl. 2. The Supreme Court has consistently recognized the expansiveness of this power, stating that "[t]he power over the public land thus entrusted to Congress is without limitations."
Kleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529, 539, 96 S.Ct. 2285, 2291, 49 L.Ed.2d 34 (1976);
United States v. San Francisco, 310 U.S. 16, 29, 60 S.Ct. 749, 756, 84 L.Ed. 1050 (1940).
See also Alabama v. Texas, 347 U.S. 272, 273, 74 S.Ct. 481, 481-82, 98 L.Ed. 689 (1954);
United States v. California, 332 U.S. 19, 27, 67 S.Ct. 1658, 1662-63, 91 L.Ed. 1889 (1947);
Gibson v. Chouteau, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 92, 99, 20 L.Ed. 534 (1871);
United States v. Gratiot, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 526, 537, 10 L.Ed. 573 (1840). Moreover, the Supreme Court has noted that Congress "may deal with [its] lands precisely as an ordinary individual may deal with his farming property. It may sell or withhold them from sale."
Light v. United States, 220 U.S. 523, 536, 31 S.Ct. 485, 488, 55 L.Ed. 570 (1911) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Indeed, the establishment of a forest reserve by Congress is a "right[] incident to proprietorship, to say nothing of the power of the
United States as a sovereign over the property belonging to it."
Id. at 537, 31 S.Ct. at 488.
The
United States, then, was not required to hold the public lands in
Nevada in trust for the establishment of future
states. Rather, under the Property Clause, the
United States can administer its federal lands any way it chooses, including the establishment of a national forest reserve.
