I don’t know the history of the land in question. How did the feds acquire this land? If it was merely with the stroke of a pen then the land wasn’t acquired constitutionally imo.
“We are not looking for Bundyville. We are not looking to challenge anything. We are just holding our constitutional rights and property rights in reserve until we get our day in court,” Barclay said.
He and his partner, George Backes, believe they do not have to file an operations plan demanded by the Bureau of Land Management because they hold the surface rights on the mining claim, Barclay said. The claim has been continuously owned since 1858, predating the Bureau of Land Management’s authority and other mining laws, he said.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/business/national-business/article18711264.html#storylink=cpy
So the mining claim predates the BLM by several decades, but the BLM says their paperwork is no longer valid, so we can kick you off it.