Salt Lake Tribune: Legislature Repeals Bill to Limit Feds’ Law Powers

"There are better ways to resolve these issues than to pass a [message] bill that we will have to repeal and litigate in court later on." - Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek

Gotta admit we were a mite surprised at how this story ended with a whimper.  We were sure that Utah's nutjob "Cowboy State Representative from Kanab" would bravely insist on taking this issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, rather than to weasel out with his tail between his legs:

"Faced with a likely legal defeat over a bill’s constitutionality, the Utah Legislature on Wednesday repealed a measure limiting federal land agencies’ law enforcement powers. HB155 sponsor Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab sought the repeal "on advice of counsel" after U.S. District Judge David Nuffer issued" in quick succession (slam-dunk style) a temporary restraining order and a "preliminary injunction blocking the law’s implementation." Coincidentally, this is the same "advice of counsel" which  Noel ignored when he somehow managed to "snooker" our entire Weber County legislative delegation (among others) and rammed this knuckle-headed bill through the legislature at the outset.

• Legislature repeals bill to limit feds’ law powers

"We need to learn from this experience so we won’t make this mistake in the future," said Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, one of the few [level-headed] House members who had voted against the bill earlier this year. "There are better ways to resolve these issues than to pass a [message] bill that we will have to repeal and litigate in court later on."

Sadly, that'll never work in our tea-party-owned and controlled Utah State Legislature, where thumbing their legislative noses at the federal government is job #1, and the cost of defending facially unconstitutional legislation in federal court is no object (well almost).