Constitutional Smoke & Mirrors Behind the Oregon Standoff

8.1.16

Constitutional Smoke & Mirrors Behind the Oregon Standoff: [lawatthemargins.com] Bundy and his militiamen are claiming this land belongs to the ranchers because the ranchers were working this land before the federal government declared it a wildlife refuge. But what they fail to recognize is that the Harney Basin where the Hammond ranch is located was settled in the 1870s while it was still Native American land. Bundy’s group is protesting for Constitutional rights (that contradict the constitution) to land that was illegally settled. In essence, if we go back to the original settlement of the land in question, Bundy’s group is advocating that the Federal government and Native American tribes have no stake in the land at all- a stance that is in complete opposition to the constitution. “The irony of the Bundy protest is that by their own rationale, these folks have no claim to any land in the west–let alone political autonomy over it,” states Anthony Broadman, a Seattle attorney who represents tribal governments.