A Nevada judge has dismissed a lawsuit by rancher Cliven Bundy that had sought to declare that all Nevada’s public lands belong to the state. The lands included the federal allotment in Bunkerville where Bundy grazes cattle without a permit.
Nevada District Judge Jim Crockett called the Bundy patriarch’s contention "simply delusional.''
He dismissed all of Bundy’s claims in a ruling made public Tuesday. The judge noted that three prior court decisions have rejected Bundy’s same arguments.
"It is painfully obvious that the claims asserted by Bundy in the instant matter rest upon a fundamentally flawed notion advanced by Bundy since 1998 regarding ownership of federal public lands in Nevada. For two decades, Bundy has made the same claims that federal public lands within Nevada belong not to the United States, but instead to the State of Nevada,'' the judge wrote. "Three federal court decisions -- Bundy I, Bundy II, and Bundy Ill -- have now considered and rejected Bundy’s repeated arguments.''
Bundy filed the lawsuit in January 2018, shortly after he was freed from jail following a federal judge’s dismissal of criminal charges against him, two of his sons, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy, and co-defendant Ryan Payne. The case stemmed from their 2014 standoff with federal agents.
On Jan. 8, 2018, U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro threw out the charges citing “flagrant misconduct” by prosecutors and the FBI in not disclosing evidence before and during trial.
The Center for Biological Diversity had submitted a motion to dismiss Bundy’s suit, which the court granted.
"Bundy’s ridiculous legal theories have wasted the court’s time and taxpayer money. Hopefully this unequivocal ruling will encourage Bundy to finally pay his grazing fees and bring this nonsense to a close,'' said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement Tuesday.
The judge’s ruling is below:
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com
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