Deneicy replied on Permalink
Federal land inside states
Why Cliven Bundy lost his claim that the grazing land belonged to the state of Nevada and not the federal government. The 2013 order by Judge Lloyd D. George is a summary judgement against Bundy. It briefly touched on the arguments Bundy made in his unsuccessful 1998 case and cited US v. Gardner (1997).
" Thus, as the United States has held title to the unappropriated public lands in Nevada since Mexico ceded the land to the United States in 1848, the land is the property of the United States. The United States Constitution provides in the Property Clause that Congress has the power "to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States." U.S. Const. art. IV, § 3, cl. 2.
The Supreme Court has consistently recognized the expansiveness of this power, stating that "[t]he power over the public land thus entrusted to Congress is without limitations."
Kleppe v. New Mexico et al
Moreover, the Supreme Court has noted that Congress "may deal with [its] lands precisely as an ordinary individual may deal with his farming property. It may sell or withhold them from sale." Light v. United States
When Congress invited Nevada to join the Union in 1864, it mandated that the Nevada constitutional convention pass an act promising that Nevada would "forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States...." Nevada Statehood Act of March 21, 1864
The state constitutional convention did so. Ordinance of the Nevada Constitution.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15831637732276368134&q=bundy+v.+united+states+BLM+nevada&hl=en&as_sdt=40000006&as_ylo=1997&as_yhi=1999&as_vis=1#[7]
