Supreme Court Declines to Hear Corner-Crossing Case

Outdoor Life ^ | Oct 20, 202 | Christine Peterson

[where's_the_Outrage?]

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it would not hear a case that could have given a final decision over who can access millions of acres of public land in the West. The justices provided no reasoning for declining to hear the case.

This means an issue that has roiled the public-land hunting community for years is, at least for now, settled in part of the West. Corner crossing remains legal in Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah — states covered by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals — said the hunters’ attorney, Ryan Semerad. However, corner crossing remains a legal gray area everywhere else.

“There are many people out there who wanted SCOTUS to take the case,” says Semerad. “Because while [the justices] could have decided corner crossing is illegal, they could also have provided unity for the nation that says these are public lands and private landowners don’t buy the ability to exclude the public from public lands.”

The case in question began in 2021 when a local county sheriff in southeast Wyoming filed criminal trespass charges against four Missouri hunters, who placed a ladder between two catty-corner public parcels of land, climbed over, and hunted elk and deer. The property’s owner, North Carolina pharmaceutical executive Fred Eshelman, maintained the hunters had trespassed on his property. The hunters’ attorney, on the other hand, said that because they only passed through private airspace and did not touch private land, they were in the clear.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

I think SCOTUS did the right thing in declining the case basically letting the circuit court establish precedence. It seemed to me the property owners were trying to control access to public, $7Mil in damages should have led to a fine for being outrageous.

Here's further explanation of the issue: Corner Crossing Protected by Federal Law According to Fed Appeals Crt

[frank ballenger]

They’d better rule on Trump being above to send troops including National Guard to each city.

Unless they want us to abandon all respect.

[marktwain]

It seems to me to be pretty good precedent, even if it is only in the 10th Circuit.

[Paladin2]

The SCOTUS seems pretty lazy to me.

Peralps they need a number of additional Justices to help pick up the pace.

[EnderWiggin1970]

Thanks for sharing this and the extra link - very interesting. I’m a hiker (who often bushwhacks) and live in Wyoming, so this is very relevant to me. I’ve often noticed these “landlocked” public squares of land and wondered how anyone could get to them. I get that ranchers don’t want people trespassing willy-nilly on their land, but being a jack*ss over someone stepping across a corner of their property (out on the vast Wyoming landscape) is ridiculous in common sense terms.

[CharlesOConnell]

Corner Crossing Explained by Hank Patterson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBz-bl6lXfw

[redfreedom]

As a land owner I used to let people hunt on our property until that small percentage that shoot things up or robbed us blind ruined it. We even had a vehicle crash through a 4 strand barbed wire fence, right beside a No Hunting sign.

However, if someone uses that corner crossing technique, it hurts nothing. Our land is not being touched. The whole point of posting the land is to prevent vandalism and theft.

[Carl Vehse]

The SCOTUS seems pretty lazy to me.
Peralps they need a number of additional Justices to help pick up the pace.

Better still, replace three abysmally incompetent justices with originalist justices.

Best, also an originalist as the new Chief Justice.

[Paladin2]

The Country could only benefit from a Scalia 2.0 as Chief.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

SCOTUS receives around 7,000 or more petitions each year.

Of those, they only accept oral arguments for 75 to 85; after oral arguments, they spend months writing their opinions to support their verdicts (and if you’ve seen a SCOTUS opinion, they tend to have a plethora of citations).

So “pretty lazy” is a bit subjective.

[Carl Vehse]

"The Country could only benefit from a Scalia 2.0 as Chief."

Out of approximately 30,000 state judges and 1,700 federal judges in the U.S. (dare one even think about including law professors), one must pray that another Scalia-level judge exists.

[Paladin2]

“...one must pray that another Scalia-level judge exists...”

THAT is certainly an issue.

Chances are that he/she does not.

[GenXPolymath]

[The property’s owner, North Carolina pharmaceutical executive Fred Eshelman, maintained the hunters had trespassed on his property.

But then Eshelman filed a civil case against the hunters saying they caused more than $7 million in damages by trespassing over his property.]

It’s aholes like this that make normal Americans hate corporations and the MBA clowns who run them.

They put up a step ladder and crossed corner to corner over from public land to public land never touching his dirt. F THIS GUY. Sounds like someone needs a encounter in a dark alley with some bikers or Marines who are both.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

I would like to see crossovers for public to public lands being permanently emplaced.

[9YearLurker]

Sounds like a ridiculous case for the Supremes, even if they had wanted to issue some sort of decree as a byproduct of it.

[GingisK]

SCOTUS is there to judge the laws, not the cases.

[trebb]

Good response - No need for SCOTUS to waste time on this... “right of way access” has been law for as long as I can remember...

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

There is a secret recording of the justices reading the complaint...

“...oh good GOSH what are these idiots suing over NOW!?....AWH HELL NO, I gotta enough to do...”