Friday, December 07, 2007

Sierra Club v. Bosworth (9th Cir. - Dec. 5, 2007)

I love Judge Kleinfeld's concurrence in this one. You've gotta slog through a thirty-page majority opinion before you get to it, mind you. But when you do, it's two incredibly short -- and neat -- paragraphs. That basically say:

"I'm from Alaska, damn it. And conservative too boot. So it may not come as a total surprise to you that I really, really don't think it's that big of a deal at all to cut brush or do controlled burns on 1,000- or 4,000-acre plots of land if the Forest Service feels like that's what it needs to do. Four thousand acres isn't that much to me, honestly. And it seems like it's for a good reason. But, to my eternal chagrin, the Forest Service filed a brief that totally fails to cite to anything in the record to support my strong -- strong -- belief that this isn't a big deal at all. 'Cause if they did, I promise you, I ain't voting in favor of the Sierra Club in this one. But they didn't. So I can't. And I won't. Hence I join the majority."

My description reads between the lines a little bit, perhaps. But I think it's pretty accurate.