I am going to take a shot in the dark and say that Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson has not been to Wyoming recently, if ever, and most likely doesn’t know a damn thing about the Gray Wolf besides what she has read from biased court briefings. Furthermore I would say her recent ruling on the fate of Wyoming’s wolf management plan is a perfect illustration of the ever widening chasm between the intent of the federal judiciary and the citizens it is supposed to be helping.
Judge Jackson recently ruled in opposition to the minimum population requirements outlined by the state of Wyoming after the Gray Wolf was delisted from the endangered species act in 2012 and management was turned over to the Wyoming Game and Fish by the US Fish and Wildlife service. Frustratingly, the decision was made not for any substantive reason but simply because she felt that the language used was merely too informal.
What Judge Jackson will never see from her cushioned bench deep in the heart of Washington DC is that her frivolous ruling will have a substantial effect on a group of hard working individuals out here in Wyoming. Wyoming had to cancel their Wolf hunting season that was supposed to start on October 1st, and refund all of the already sold licenses. This has an effect on outfitters who rely on the hunting season and towns that rely on the season for generating tourism and those are simply the immediate effects.
Long term we can expect to see an increased wolf population which will cost more tax payer money as we have to compensate ranchers for slain cattle as well as funding lost from the downturn in hunting licenses available which results from smaller game herds due to predation by wolves. But who won’t suffer any consequences from these actions? You got it, Federal Judges that sit in cities thousands of miles away from those they are supposedly adjudicating for.
So thank you Judge Jackson, you have made tough times even harder for a lot of the folks out here in Wyoming, not that you would even know or care who we are. Now we will get to spend goodness knows how long going through the bureaucratic nightmare of re-formulating our “informal” regulations, while suffering the economic consequences the whole while.
I understand that intimate interaction with every case presented to them is not a realistic expectation for Federal Judges but additional steps must be taken so that judges aren’t allowed to interpret the law so technically that it unnecessarily impedes on the lives of American citizens. If the current trend goes unchecked, our generation could be left to face the long term consequences of an unchecked judiciary branch.
For Judge Jackson I might recommend a trip out here to Wyoming, and perhaps you can learn a few things about this case that aren’t taught at Harvard Law.
