Mountain States Legal Foundation

Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is a free market public interest law firm.[2] Founded in 1977 and based in Colorado, the organization says it is "dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited government, and the free enterprise system."[3]

Mountain States Legal Foundation
Mountain States Legal Foundation logo
Formation1977
TypeNon-profit corporation
PurposePublic interest litigation
HeadquartersLakewood, Colorado
Region served
United States
Executive Vice President
Cristen Wohlgemuth
Staff
15 (2019)[1]
Website

MSLF focuses on litigation relating to property rights and federal land management in the American West,[4] as well as gun rights[5] and other constitutional law cases.

MSLF is a donor-supported, nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. MSLF's attorneys provide representation to clients pro bono in cases that involve important public policy issues. In addition to direct representation of its clients, MSLF attorneys also file amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs. MSLF engages in cases at all levels of the federal court system, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

History and activities

MSLF was incorporated in Denver, Colorado, in 1976 with funding from the National Legal Center and Joseph Coors.[6] MSLF's first president was James G. Watt. According to Russ Bellant, MSLF filed amicus briefs opposing an affirmative action program at the University of Colorado Law School, opposing business inspections, and opposing Idaho's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.[6]

MSLF is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, which also approves all legal actions taken by MSLF, and assisted in the selection of its litigation by a volunteer Board of Litigation.[7][8] MSLF employs a full-time staff, which includes attorneys who conduct all of the litigation in which MSLF engages. The organization reports its annual budget to be over $2 million.[9]

MSLF's office is in Lakewood, Colorado, near Denver. MSLF publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Litigator, which addresses topical legal issues.

Since its creation, MSLF has argued cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and numerous federal courts of appeals. MSLF's best known litigation involved the Constitution's equal protection guarantee, which resulted in a 1995 landmark ruling that Time magazine called "a legal earthquake, throwing into doubt most of the government's affirmative-action programs."[10] In Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, Justice Scalia wrote, "In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American."[11] MSLF has continued its litigation regarding affirmative action, reverse discrimination, and racial quotas and preferences, and also has litigated regarding the Voting Rights Act.

In addition, MSLF has litigated regarding property rights. Its lawsuits have involved the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, (especially regarding wetlands), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Forest Management Act, the Antiquities Act, the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act, and the General Mining Law and bars on and restrictions regarding the ability to develop natural resources such as energy and minerals and forest and agricultural products. In a case dismissed in 2002, MSLF sued George W. Bush for failing to overturn a designation of national monuments action by Bill Clinton.[12]

MSLF's sources of funding have included Texaco, U.S. Steel Phillips Petroleum and ExxonMobil corporations and Castle Rock Foundation.[13]

Bibliography
  • “Life, Liberty, and Property Rights,” in Bringing Justice to the People: The Story of the Freedom-Based Public Interest Law Movement (Lee Edwards, ed.). Washington, DC: Heritage Books, ISBN 0-9743665-2-8.

Notable employees

Notable past employees include:[14][15]

References
  1. "Mountain States Legal Foundation Staff". Mountainstateslegal.org. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  2. Lewin, Tamar (July 20, 1982). "Talking Business with Roger J Marzulla of Mountain States Legal Foundation Free Market Philosophy". New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  3. "Home". Mountain States Legal Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  4. Risen, James (January 31, 2001). "Vote Lifts Conservative Land Groups". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  5. "Boulder Rifle Club, Jon Caldara sue city over assault weapon ban". The Denver Post. 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  6. Bellant, Russ. The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, p 85. South End Press, 1991. ISBN 9780896084162
  7. http://www.mountainstateslegal.org/about-us/board-of-directors
  8. http://www.mountainstateslegal.org/about-us/board-of-litigation
  9. http://www.charitynavigator.org
  10. Lacayo, Richard; Novak, Viveca (2003-06-22). "How Rehnquist Changed America". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  11. 515 U.S. 200, 239 (1995) (Scalia, concurring)
  12. Lindstrom, p 508.
  13. Lindstrom, p 507.
  14. By JEFFREY ROSENAPRIL 17, 2005 (2005-04-17). "The Unregulated Offensive - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  15. "LAW: Foundation that launched Interior chiefs Watt, Norton doubles down on litigation - Thursday, January 2, 2014". www.eenews.net. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
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