I am not completely sure what the issues in Harney County are. But far as I know:
The precipitating issue is the Hammonds were sent back to prison for arson, which many find dubious and excessive.
The underlying issues are federal ownership and control of the land.
The argument for the feds is there is a lot of case law, bills from congress, and court rulings that show the feds do indeed own BLM land.
The argument against that position is 1) all of the above violates the Constitution, which it does appear to do, and 2) all the parties that claim the feds own the land are themselves federal—congress, courts, BLM, FBI, prosecutors, and probably more than that.
I really like the people in Harney County and tend to trust them. Seems to me the feds are pushing too hard, especially by sending the Hammonds back to jail for five years.
Also, I am strongly in favor of states’ rights because that is how our system is supposed to work.
That said, I also fear states’ right in land issues in the West because once states control that land it will be corrupt state officials selling the land to their friends, not necessarily being reasonable with ranchers.
It seems to me that the feds have overreached in this case and now can’t back down because they are a stupid bureaucracy. Would have been better to give the Hammonds a pass and let them continue ranching rather than send them back to jail.
Since they didn’t do that, it would still be better for the feds to back off, let the Hammonds out of jail, and let the County return to business as it was. Good law enforcement often calls for de-escalation and this case is an example of that, imo.
