Federal lands

Common card · No. 315269

In the United States, federal lands are lands owned and managed by the United States federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution (Article 4, section 3, clause 2), Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal lands. These powers have been recognized in a long series of United States Supreme Court decisions. In Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 the United States Constitution empowers Congress with exclusive legislative authority like that exercised for Washington, D.C., over "Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-yards, and other needful Buildings." However, as long as state law does "not impair the federal governments effective use of the land", states still have jurisdiction over federal lands acquired without the consent of a state legislature as the Property Clause (Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2) of the Constitution does...

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