WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sounded skeptical of the National Park Service's authority to prevent an Alaskan moose hunter from using his motorized rubber boat to access remote areas of the state.
The justices heard arguments Nov. 5 in a case that tests the limits of the federal government's authority in a state in which more than 60 percent of the land is federally owned.
The case stems from Sturgeon's 2007 encounter with three park rangers who ordered him off the Nation River within the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve in northeast Alaska. The rangers told him it was illegal to operate the noisy craft that can navigate shallow water or even mud. He sued in 2011.
"Well, but, I mean, the waters are very important to Alaskans' way of life in the way they aren't elsewhere," Chief Justice John Roberts said, voicing doubt about the Trump administration's reading of the law that gives the federal government sweeping control of the waterways.
Roberts didn't sound persuaded by that argument.
"While you may think a hovercraft is unsightly, I mean, if you're trying to get from point A to point B, it's pretty beautiful," he said.
That comment aligned with the argument made by Alaska assistant attorney general Ruth Botstein, who said the law protected the state's control over rivers.
"Our rivers are our only roads," Botstein said.
The session Nov. 5 also displayed the difficulty the justices were having in reconciling the precise language of the 1980 law with arguments on both sides.
"I've burned up an awful lot of gray cells trying to put together the pieces of this statute," said Justice Samuel Alito.