Interesting how the Fed’s exempted themselves from real estate taxes.
IMHO, not paying real estate taxes makes Fed not an “ordinary owner of land”.
Also, Article IV section 3,
“The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.”
does not address land purchased or deeded over to the Fed gov AFTER a state has begun its statehood.
In other words, if say Fed gov comes to NJ, and buys up a 100-acre property, and puts a few office buildings on it, say taking up 15 acres. Now, are we saying that Fed gov would pay no NJ local property taxes... and... that Fed gov can draft its own laws governing those 100 acres - that supersede municipal, county and state laws covering those 100 acres ?
What if, for example, said 100 acres were near Morristown airport (a lot of small bus jet traffic), that Fed gov wants to put a heliport on its 100 acres and it would be dangerously close to the landing patterns of Morristown.
With the reasoning of Fed gov has no limits, it could authorize exemptions from its own FAA, DOT, etc., regulations, and simply override any local complaints, legal actions in NJ courts, etc.
Fed gov could build a lake on their 100 acres that, for example, because of the alterations to the water flow of the land, caused other areas to flood.
And no court in the land would give anyone any recourse if Article IV section 3 means that Fed gov can do as they please on land that Fed gov owns within the boundaries of any of the 50 states.
Congress could, but it seems exceeding unlikely Congress would.