U.S. agents avoid a racketeering suit
A Wyoming rancher cannot use the federal racketeering law to seek damages against employees of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management whom he accused of harassment, the Supreme Court ruled Monday .
The unanimous decision reversed a federal appeals court ruling. The earlier ruling had government officials fearing that if the high court permitted the case to proceed, it would spawn a bevy of litigation against federal employees merely trying to do their jobs.
The court also ruled, 7-2, that the rancher, Harvey Frank Robbins, who has been in a protracted battle with BLM agents in Wyoming, could not pursue a case against the agents based on the landmark 1971 Supreme Court decision Bivens vs. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents. Bivens holds that federal officials can be sued for damages for constitutional violations, even if there is no specific statute authorizing the lawsuit.
On the Bivens claim, Robbins alleged that BLM agents violated his 5th Amendment rights by retaliating against him because he was unwilling to grant them an easement across a portion of his High Island Ranch, a guest resort stretching across 40 miles.
The BLM agents said they viewed him as a rogue rancher who would not obey the law.
Robbins drew the support of the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest law organization in Sacramento.
The BLM agents were supported by environmental groups, led by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, a Washington group that aids federal employees fighting legal battles stemming from actions they have taken to enforce federal laws.
The clash between the BLM agents and Robbins began soon after he purchased the ranch in 1994 from George Nelson, who had granted an easement for government officials to use and maintain the road along his property.
The BLM failed to record the easement and Robbins knew nothing about it when he bought the land.
Robbins said that soon after his purchase, BLM agent Joe Vessels told him he would have to give the agency an easement and said the government would not negotiate.
Over the next several years, Robbins was cited numerous times for his cattle trespassing on neighbors' property, for placing too many head of cattle on his federal grazing allotments, for obstructing a neighbor's use of a cattle trail and for refusing to change his grazing practices to protect drought-starved rangeland from more damage, according to federal records.
