Here are two amicus briefs supporting the cert petition in Estate of Hage v. United States, No. 12-918 (cert. petition filed Jan. 17, 2013). That's the case in which the Federal Circuit held that a 22-year old takings case was not ripe because even
though the agency denied Hage's every application for a grazing permit,
it might issue a special use permit that might allow the use of the water he alleges was taken. The issue in the case is whether it is a taking for the government to cut off physical access to a property owner's vested right to use water.
First up is the brief of Pacific Legal Foundation and the U.S. Cattlemen's Association which argues that the property owner "has a protected property interest in the right to access and perform ordinary maintenance on ditches that carry his water on vested rights-of-way over federal lands." The Mountain States Legal Foundation also filed a brief, arguing that by imposing a permit requirment, the Bureau of Land Management impermissibly redefined the scope of the property interest granted by Congress, and that such an action is a taking.
The Court's docket report indicates that at least one more amicus brief was filed in support, and we'll post that when we get it. Meanwhile, we wait for the SG's BIO, now due on March 27, 2013.
Amicus Curiae Brief of Pacific Legal Foundation and the United States Cattlemen's Association in Support of...
Amicus Curiae Brief of Mountain States Legal Foundation in Support of Petitioners, Estate of Hage v. United...
