Appellate Law

CA1: no preemption where no conflict ? just assistance

By S. COTUS

Fitzgerald v. Harris, No. 08-1306 (12/5/08) holds that the Allagash Wilderness Waterway ("AWW"), Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 1882 is not preempted by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act ("WSRA"), 16 U.S.C. § 1271 et seq (which they call a ?cooperative federalism statute?). A couple of canoeists (note, they were not yachtspeople). The First essentially holds that the WSRA doesn?t really impose the duties the small-boatspeople think it imposes on the state, and there neither a conflict nor a preemption, and the Federal government just ?assists? the states. Whatever the case, the statute itself says that it isn?t displacing (get it?) state law.

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on December 08, 2008 (boomark / email).