This one is not about takings, but this cert petition does relate to land and water, and come on, when the case involves Tombstone, Arizona calling out the federal government to a showdown -- not at High Noon, but in the High Court -- do you think we could have passed up the opportunity to post it? No way, hombre.
Here are the Questions Presented. It's one of those QP's with a short introduction which lays out the facts, so we won't repeat them here:
Most fundamentally, this petition asks whether a state has any right to exist under the Tenth Amendment. Under the authority of a State of Emergency declared by the Governor of Arizona, the historic City of Tombstone sought to freely restore its municipal water supply infrastructure inholdings, located within Arizona’s Coronado National Forest, after they were destroyed by a natural disaster. Even though the City faced a serious public health and safety emergency consisting of the loss of adequate water for public consumption and fire suppression, the Forest Service refused to allow the City to restore its essential infrastructure without first obtaining special use authorizations. The specific questions presented for review are:1. Whether the City of Tombstone is likely to succeed on the merits of the claim that the Forest Service violated the Tenth Amendment by directly regulating the City in such a way as to impede restoration of essential municipal infrastructure during a State of Emergency, and thereby threaten the continued existence of a political subdivision of the State of Arizona.2. Whether the City of Tombstone is likely to succeed on the merits of the claim that this Court has implicitly overturned Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528 (1985), and that, under the traditional governmental functions test applied in National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833 (1976), the U.S. Forest Service violated the Tenth Amendment by preventing the City from freely restoring its essential municipal infrastructure during a State of Emergency.3. Whether the City of Tombstone is likely to succeed on the merits of the claim that the Forest Service violated the Tenth Amendment by preventing the City from freely restoring its essential municipal infrastructure during a State of Emergency because the Property Clause, like all other delegated powers of the federal government, is limited by the principle of state sovereignty.
When the Tenth Amendment is involved, who knows what is in the cards, and we'll leave it up to others who can more accurately predict what the Court will do with this petition.
Will Tombstone continue to be "The Town Too Tough to Die?" Stay tuned.
Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, City of Tombstone v. United States, No. 12-1069 (Feb. 27, 2013)
