Minnesota v. Block
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
660 F.2d 1240 (1981)
Congress passed the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978 to preserve the 1,075,000-acre BWCAW along the Minnesota-Canadian border, nearly 90 percent federally owned, with Minnesota (plaintiff, in this consolidated challenge) owning roughly 121,000 acres plus the beds under 160,000 acres of navigable waters within it; section 4 of the act restricted motorboats and snowmobiles to designated areas across the entire BWCAW, including Minnesota's own land and waters, following extensive congressional testimony on how motorized vehicles interfered with canoeists', hikers', and skiers' use of the wilderness. Minnesota, property owners, and various individuals and organizations sued the federal government (defendant), arguing Congress exceeded its Property Clause authority by restricting motorized-vehicle use on nonfederal land within the BWCAW.
Whether the Property Clause gives Congress the power to regulate activities that do not occur on federal land, to avoid interference with the land's designated purposes.