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(85,977 posts) Sat Sep 26, 2020, 07:01 AM Sep 2020

Judge removes Trump public lands boss for serving illegally

The Associated Press @AP 11h
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration’s public lands steward has been serving unlawfully and has blocked him from continuing in the post. Montana's Democratic governor sued to remove Bureau of Land Management's acting director.

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s leading steward of public lands has been serving unlawfully, blocking him from continuing in the position in the latest pushback against the administration’s practice of filling key positions without U.S. Senate approval.

U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Land Management acting director William Perry Pendley served unlawfully for 424 days without being confirmed to the post by the Senate as required under the Constitution, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris determined.

The ruling came after Montana’s Democratic governor in July sued to remove Pendley, saying the former oil industry attorney was illegally overseeing an agency that manages almost a quarter-billion acres of land, primarily in the U.S. West.

“Today’s ruling is a win for the Constitution, the rule of law, and our public lands,” Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday. Environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers from Western states also cheered the judge’s move after urging for months that Pendley be removed.

The agency will abide by the judge’s order while the appeal is pending, officials said. It will also have to confront questions over the legitimacy of all decisions Pendley had made, including his approval of land use plans in Montana that Morris said Pendley was not authorized to make.

read: https://apnews.com/article/billings-montana-archive-only-on-ap-472201d09bc69de32fbf3e110c094fa6