Alaskan Summer at the High Court

During summer in Tee Harbor, Alaska, the sun reaches the horizon early. By 5:30 a.m., its light already fills the home that Vern Fiehler built and raised his son Levi in. On one Friday quite soon, the sunrise will signify something momentous for father and son.

At that time, nearly 4,000 miles away, nine Supreme Court justices will convene in their private conference room in Washington, DC.

Among the thousands of cases submitted for review, only a tiny fraction are chosen for full briefing and argument. Vern and Levi’s case has a significant advantage.

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The Supreme Court already expressed interest in their case in January, when it followed CIR’s suggestion and asked the U.S. Solicitor General for his views on it.

The Fiehlers’ case might seem like an ordinary property rights dispute, but it raises important questions about the proper allocation of power between federal and state governments.

As with many homes in rural Alaska, the only practical access to the Fiehlers’ family home is by boat.

Since he built the home in 1978, Vern has used the small beach fronting his house to secure groceries and other supplies.

Neighbors on an abutting parcel wanted to expand their own beach access and challenged the property lines that were established by a 1938 federal survey. The redrawn property lines would cut off the Fiehlers’ beach access. Contrary to longstanding federal precedent followed by every other state, the Alaska Supreme Court did just that.

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The Supreme Court’s call for the Solicitor General’s (SG) views on this case is rare, occurring only about a handful of times per year.

The justices’ request requires four votes, the same number to grant full review. And such full review is almost always approved when the SG joins in requesting it.

The SG would normally file his views by mid-May, but current workload demands could delay that filing. We think the SG will highlight the federal government’s interest in protecting homesteaders’ property rights that were established by countless federal property surveys like the one that drew the Fiehlers’ property lines in 1938.

With a favorable SG filing, we believe the Court will act favorably on that fateful Friday morning and grant the Fiehlers’ plea to hear their case in the nation’s highest court.