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Brief on Count IV, State of Alaska V. United States

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Brief on Count IV, State of Alaska V. United States IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 128, Original STATE OF ALASKA, Plaintiff v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant ____________ Before the Special Master Gregory E. Maggs ____________ MOTION OF THE UNITED STATES FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION ON COUNT IV OF THE AMENDED COMPLAINT ____________ Theodore B. Olson Solicitor General Edwin S. Kneedler Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey P. Minear Assistant to the Solicitor General Gary B. Randall Bruce M. Landon Michael W. Reed Trial Attorneys United States Department of Justice Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 (202) 514-2217 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 128, Original STATE OF ALASKA, Plaintiff v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant ____________ Before the Special Master Gregory E. Maggs ____________ MOTION OF THE UNITED STATES FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON COUNT IV OF THE AMENDED COMPLAINT ____________ In accordance with Rule 56, Fed. R. Civ. P., the United States moves for partial summary judgment on Count IV of the Amended Complaint of the State of Alaska in this original action. Specifically, the United States moves for an order ruling that the United States reserved the marine submerged lands within Glacier Bay National Monument at the time of Alaska’s admission to the Union, decreeing that Alaska does not possess title to those submerged lands, and entering judgment on Count IV in favor of the United States. There are no disputed material issues of fact and the United States is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. This motion is supported by the attached Memorandum. i Respectfully submitted. Theodore B. Olson Solicitor General Edwin S. Kneedler Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey P. Minear Assistant to the Solicitor General Gary B. Randall Bruce M. Landon Michael W. Reed Trial Attorneys United States Department of Justice Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 (202) 514-2217 By:_______________________ Bruce M. Landon Trial Attorney, General Litigation Section Environment and Natural Resources Division United States Department of Justice 801 B Street, Suite 504 Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 271-5452 July 24, 2002 ii IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 128, Original STATE OF ALASKA, Plaintiff v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant ____________ Before the Special Master Gregory E. Maggs ____________ MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION OF THE UNITED STATES FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON COUNT IV OF THE AMENDED COMPLAINT ____________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction .................................................................... .... 1 Statement ..................................................................... 4 A. The legal principles governing federal reservations of submerged lands .............. 4 1. The United States can retain submerged lands by reserving them at statehood for any appropriate public purpose ............................... 5 2. In order to retain submerged lands, the United States must reserve the lands with the intent to prevent passage of title to the State .................... 5 B. The pertinent history of Glacier Bay National Monument ......................... 6 1. Creation of the Glacier Bay National Monument in 1925 ...................... 6 2. The 1925 boundaries of Glacier Bay National Monument ..................... 6 3. The 1939 boundaries of the expanded Glacier Bay National Monument .......... 7 4. Purposes of the Monument ............................................ 10 a. Tidewater glaciers and fjords ....................................... 11 b. Remnants of ancient inter-glacial forests ............................... 13 c. Protection of flora and fauna in the 1925 Proclamation .................... 14 d. Expansion of Glacier Bay National Monument to create a refuge for the protection of brown bear and other species .......................... 15 e. Brown bear use of marine submerged lands ............................ 19 f. Interior Department determinations that the marine submerged lands form part of the Monument and remain in federal ownership ........... 20 I Page Summary of argument ........................................................... 24 Argument . ................................................................. 26 I. The United States reserved the submerged lands within the exterior boundaries of Glacier Bay National Monument as an integral part of that Monument ............ 26 A. The boundary description in President Coolidge’s 1925 Proclamation expresses the clear intent to include submerged lands ........................ 26 B. The boundary description in President Roosevelt’s 1939 Proclamation expresses the clear intent to include submerged lands ........................ 29 C. Excluding submerged lands from the Monument would compromise the purposes of the reservation .................................................... 30 1. Excluding the submerged lands would undermine the purpose of setting aside and studying the tidewater glaciers because the glaciers themselves sit on fjord bottoms and their behavior can only be understood in relation to the geometry of the fjords in which they are located ............ 30 2. Excluding the submerged lands would undermine the purpose of protecting the remnants of ancient inter-glacial forests because those forests are located both above and below mean high tide ............... 31 3. Excluding the submerged lands would undermine the purpose of protecting wildlife, particularly the brown bear, which makes extensive use of submerged lands ............................................ 32 D. The Department of the Interior has consistently interpreted the proclamations to include the marine submerged lands ................................... 34 II. Congress retained the submerged lands in Glacier Bay National Monument at statehood .......................................................... 35 A. Congress intended to defeat state title to the submerged lands in Glacier Bay National Monument when it enacted Section 6(e) of the Alaska Statehood Act ................................................. 37 II Page 1. National monuments under the administration of the NPS are generally set apart for the protection of wildlife therein ............................ 38 2. Congress was on notice that Glacier Bay National Monument in particular had been set apart for the protection of wildlife .......................... 39 B. Congress clearly expressed its intent to retain the submerged lands by rejecting attempts to abolish or diminish the Monument ...................... 39 1. National monuments are intended to be permanent ........................ 39 2. Congress was aware that abolition of a national monument requires an Act of Congress .................................................. 40 3. Congress rejected changes to the boundaries of the Monument ............... 41 Conclusion ................................................................... 46 III TABLE OF AUTHORITIES FEDERAL CASES Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States, 248 U.S. 78 (1918) ...... 28 Alaska v. United States, 213 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir. 2000) ....... 1, 5, 28 Cappaert v. United States, 426 U.S. 128 (1976) ................. 32 Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620 (1970) ............... 5 Idaho v. United States, 533 U.S. 262 (2001) ....5, 6, 27, 28, 35, 36, 45 Lessee of Pollard v. Hagan, 3 How. (44 U.S.) 212 (1845) .......... 4 Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981) .................. 6 Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1 (1894) .......................... 5 Udall v. Tallman, , 380 U.S. 1 (1965) ..................... 34, 35 United States v. Alaska, 521 U.S. 1 (1997) ................. passim. United States v. California, 436 U.S. 32 (1978) .............. 29, 34 FEDERAL STATUTES Alaska Statehood Act, Note Prec. 48 U.S.C. § 21, 6(e), 72 Stat. 340-341 .............................................. passim. Antiquities Act of 1906, 16 U.S.C. § 431 .................... 6, 29 Park Service Organic Act of 1916, 16 U.S.C. § 1 . 6, 8, 14, 32, 33, 39, 40 Submerged Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq .................. 4 16 U.S.C. § 22, 17 Stat. 33 ................................. 38 16 U.S.C. § 43 .......................................... 38 16 U.S.C. § 92 .......................................... 38 IV 16 U.S.C. § 410hh-1(1) .................................... 1 16 U.S.C. § 410hh-2 ...................................... 1 Pub.L. 81-292, 63 Stat. 691 ................................ 40 Pub.L. 81-648, 64 Stat. 404 ................................ 40 Pub.L. 81-652, 64 Stat. 405 ................................ 40 Pub.L. 83-360, 68 Stat. 98 ................................. 40 Pub.L. 84-179, 69 Stat. 380 ................................ 40 Pub.L. 84-447, 70 Stat. 61 ................................. 41 Pub.L. 84-846, 70 Stat. 730 ................................ 41 Pub.L. 84-891, 70 Stat. 898 ................................ 41 MISCELLANEOUS Report of the Special Master in United States v. Alaska No. 84 Orig. (Mar. 1996) ................................................ 28 Presidential Proclamation of March 2, 1909, 35 Stat. 2247 ........ 38 Proc. No. 1733, 43 Stat. 1988 ........................... passim. Proc. No. 2330, April 18, 1939 ......................... passim. Proc. No. 3089, 20 Fed. Reg. 2103, April 5, 1955 ............ 21, 40 Proc. No. 3443, December 28, 1961, 76 Stat. 1441 .............. 29 Proc. No. 4346, February 1, 1975, 89 Stat. 1237 ................ 29 Proc. No. 4359, March 28, 1975, 89 Stat. 1254 ................. 29 Proc. No. 7392, January 17, 2001, 66 Fed. Reg. 7335 ...........
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