In Huck v. United States, (D UT, Sept. 21, 2023), a Utah federal district court rejected Establishment Clause, equal protection, due process and other challenges to Congress' 2019 designation of certain public lands in Utah as wilderness areas. The designation resulted in the lands being subject to more stringent use restrictions, including a ban on motor vehicles. Plaintiffs alleged that the designation was done to support Earth-religions and their beliefs regarding the ‘sacredness’ of public lands, in violation of the Establishment Clause. The court said in part:
Given the recency of the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District decision, there is limited case law interpreting and applying the Supreme Court’s new [Establishment Clause] standard....
Recognizing these are relatively unchartered waters, the court considers Plaintiffs’ challenge with an eye toward the historical practice and understanding of the Establishment Clause and federal public lands management. While the concept of designated wilderness areas and motor vehicles might have seemed outlandish to the Founding Fathers, there is substantial legal authority supporting the federal government’s historically broad authority to designate public lands and restrict the public’s access to them. These actions, without more, do not raise the specter of government coercion of religious practices or observances....
Similarly, Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged BLM’s motor vehicle restrictions violate “governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.”
The court also rejected plaintiffs' equal protection claim, saying in part:
Though Plaintiffs speculate that “[t]he BLM (as well as other . . . agencies) [conspired] with Earth-religionists [to] . . . deprive the aged, disabled or handicapped . . . from being able to access and travel upon many of the public lands,” these conclusory allegations—or speculations—fall short of satisfying Plaintiffs’ burden of alleging that the challenged actions were driven by discriminatory intent. On the contrary, Plaintiffs stress that the Dingell Act and motor vehicle restrictions were the result of the Earth-religionists’ efforts to “preserve and protect ‘Gaia’ or ‘Mother Earth,’” rather than an attempt to hinder the elderly or disabled.
