Preseault v. Interstate Commerce Commission

By 1983, Congress recognized that these measures “ha[d] not been successful in establishing a process through which railroad rights-of-way which are not immediately necessary for active service can be utilized for trail purposes.” H. R. Rep. No. 98-28, p. 8 (1983) (H. R. Rep.); S. Rep. No. 98-1, p. 9 (1983) (S. Rep.) (same). Congress enacted the Amendments to the Trails Act, which authorize the ICC to preserve for possible future railroad use rights-of-way not currently in service and to allow interim use of the land as recreational trails. Section 8(d) provides that a railroad wishing to cease operations along a particular route may negotiate with a State, municipality, or private group that is prepared to as

“The key finding of this amendment is that interim use of a railroad right-of-way for trail use, when the route itself remains intact for future railroad purposes, shall not constitute an abandonment of such rights-of-way for railroad purposes. This finding alone should eliminate many of the problems with this program. The concept of attempting to establish trails only after the formal abandonment of a railroad right-of-way is self-defeating; once a right-of-way is abandoned for railroad purposes there may be nothing left for trail use. This amendment would ensure that potential interim trail use will be considered prior to abandonment.” H. R. Rep., at 8-9.

B

Petitioners claim a reversionary interest in a railroad right-of-way adjacent to their land in Vermont. In 1962, the State of Vermont acquired the Rutland Railway Corporation’s interest in the right-of-way and then leased the right-of-way to Vermont Railway, Inc. Vermont Railway stopped using the route more than a decade ago and has since removed all railroad equipment, including switches, bridges, and track, from the portion of the right-of-way claimed by petitioners. In 1981, petitioners brought a quiet title action in the Superior Court of Chittenden County, alleging that the easement had been abandoned and was thus extinguished, and that the right-of-way had reverted to them by operation of state property law. In August 1983, the Superior Court dismissed the action, holding that it lacked jurisdiction because the ICC had not authorized abandonment of the route and therefore still exercised exclusive jurisdiction over it. The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed. Trustees of Diocese of Vermont v. State, 145 Vt. 510 , 496 A. 2d 151 (1985).

Petitioners then sought a certificate of abandonment of the rail line from the ICC. The State of Vermont intervened, claiming title in fee simple to the right-of-way and arguing in the alternative that, even if the State’s interest were an easement, the land could not revert while it was still being used for a public purpose. Vermont Railway and the State then petitioned the ICC to permit the railroad to discontinue rail service and transfer the right-of-way to the city of Burlington for interim use as a public trail under § 8(d) of the Trails Act. By a Notice of Exemption decided January 2, 1986, the ICC allowed the railroad to discontinue service and approved the agreement between the State and the city for interim trail use. See 51 Fed. Reg. 454 -455. On February 4, 1986, the

For this reason, “taking claims against the Federal Government are premature until the property owner has availed itself of the process provided by the Tucker Act.” Williamson County Regional Planning Comm’n, supra, at 195; see also United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc., 474 U. S. 121 , 127-128 (1985); Monsanto, supra, at 1016 ; Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., 438 U. S. 59 , 94, n. 39 (1978). The Tucker Act provides ju

The critical question in this case, therefore, is whether a Tucker Act remedy is available for claims arising out of takings pursuant to the Amendments. The proper inquiry is not whether the statute “expresses an affirmative showing of congressional intent to permit recourse to a Tucker Act remedy,” but rather “whether Congress has in the [statute] withdrawn the Tucker Act grant of jurisdiction to the [Claims Court] to hear a suit involving the [statute] ‘founded . . . upon the Constitution.’” Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases, supra, at 126 (emphasis in original). Under this standard, we conclude that the Amendments did not withdraw the Tucker Act remedy. Congress did not exhibit the type of “unambiguous intention to withdraw the Tucker Act remedy,” Monsanto, supra, at 1019 , that is necessary to preclude a Tucker Act claim. See Glosemeyer v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. Co., 685 F. Supp. 1108 , 1120-1121 (ED Mo. 1988), aff’d, 879 F. 2d 316 , 324-325 (CA8 1989).

Neither the statute nor its legislative history mentions the Tucker Act. As indirect evidence of Congress’ intent to prevent recourse to the Tucker Act, petitioners point to § 101 of the Amendments which, although it was not codified into law, provides in relevant part that:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, authority to enter into contracts, and to make payments, under this Act shall be effective only to such extent or in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropria

tion Acts.” 97 Stat. 42 , note following 16 U. S. C. § 1249 .

Petitioners contend that this section limits the ICC’s authority for conversions to those not requiring the expenditure of any funds and to those others for which funds had been appropriated in advance. Thus, any conversion that could result in Claims Court litigation was not authorized by Congress, since payment for such an acquisition would not have been approved by Congress in advance. Petitioners insist that such unauthorized Government actions cannot create Tucker Act liability, citing Hooe v. United States, 218 U. S. 322 , 335 (1910), and Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases, supra, at 127, n. 16.

We need not decide what types of official authorization, if any, are necessary to create federal liability under the Fifth Amendment, because we find that rail-to-trail conversions giving rise to just compensation claims are clearly authorized by § 8(d). That section speaks in capacious terms of “interim use of any established railroad rights-of-way” (emphasis added) and does not support petitioners’ proposed distinction between conversions that might result in a taking and those that do not. Although Congress did not explicitly promise to pay for any takings, we have always assumed that the Tucker Act is an “implie[d] promis[e]” to pay just compensation which individual laws need not reiterate. Yearsley v. W. A. Ross Construction Co., 309 U. S. 18 , 21 (1940). .Petitioners’ argument that specific congressional authorization is required for those conversions that might result in takings is a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent the established method for determining whether Tucker Act relief is available for claims arising out of takings pursuant to a federal statute. We reaffirm that a Tucker Act remedy exists unless there are unambiguous indications to the contrary.

Section 101, moreover, speaks only to appropriations under the Amendments themselves and not to relief available

Ill

Petitioners also contend that the Amendments are not a valid exercise of congressional power under the Commerce Clause, Art. I, §8, because the true purpose of § 8(d) is to prevent reversion of railroad rights-of-way to property owners after abandonment and to create recreational trails, rather than to preserve rail corridors for future railroad use. We evaluate this claim under the traditional rationality standard of review: we must defer to a congressional finding that a regulated activity affects interstate commerce “if there is any rational basis for such a finding,” Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U. S. 264 , 276 (1981), and we must ensure only that the means selected by Congress are “ ‘reasonably adapted to the end permitted by the Constitution.’” Ibid, (quoting Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U. S. 241 , 262 (1964)); see also Hodel v. Indiana, 452 U. S. 314 , 323-324 (1981). The Amendments clearly pass muster.

Two congressional purposes are evident. First, Congress intended to “encourage the development of additional trails” and to “assist recreation[al] users by providing opportunities for trail use on an interim basis.” H. R. Rep., at 8, 9; S. Rep., at 9, 10 (same); see also 16 U. S. C. § 1241 (a) (Trails Act “promote[s] the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, out

Petitioners contend that the Amendments do not reasonably promote the latter purpose because the ICC cannot authorize trail use until it has found that the right-of-way at issue is not necessary for “present or future public convenience and necessity.” 49 U. S. C. § 10903 (a) (1982 ed.) (emphasis added). The ICC has explained that:

“In every Trails Act case, we will already have found that the public convenience and necessity permit abandonment (or that regulatory approval is not required under 49 U. S. C. [§]10505).” 54 Fed. Reg. 8012 , n. 3 (1989).

Thus, trail conversion is permitted only after the Commission determines that rail service will not be not needed in the foreseeable future. This, according to petitioners, reveals that the rail banking rationale is a sham. If Congress really wished to address the problem of shrinking trackage, it would not have left conversions to voluntary agreements between railroads and state and local agencies or private groups. Rather, petitioners suggest, Congress would have created a mandatory program administered directly by the ICC.

We note at the outset that even under petitioners’ reading, the Amendments would still be a valid exercise of congressional power under the Commerce Clause because they are reasonably adapted to the goal of encouraging the development of additional recreational trails. There is no requirement that a law serve more than one legitimate purpose. Moreover, we are not at liberty under the rational basis standard of review to hold the Amendments invalid merely

Petitioners’ argument that § 8(d) does not serve the rail banking purpose, moreover, is not well taken. That the ICC must certify that public convenience and necessity permit abandonment before granting a CITU or NITU does not indicate that the statute fails to promote its purpose of preserving rail corridors. Congress did not distinguish between short-term and long-term rail banking, nor did it require that • the Commission develop a specific contingency plan for reactivation of a line before permitting conversion. To the contrary, Congress apparently believed that every line is a potentially valuable national asset that merits preservation even if no future rail use for it is currently foreseeable. Given the long tradition of congressional regulation of railroad abandonments, see, e. g., Colorado v. United States, 271 U. S. 153 (1926), that is a judgment that Congress is entitled to make.

For the reasons stated, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.

It is so ordered.

with whom Justice Scalia and Justice Kennedy join, concurring.

Petitioners assert that the actions of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC or Commission) prevent them from enjoying property rights secured by Vermont law and thereby have effected a compensable taking. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit determined that, no matter what Vermont law might provide, the ICC’s actions forestalled petitioners from possessing the asserted reversionary interest, and thus that no takings claim could arise. Today the Court affirms the Second Circuit’s judgment on quite different grounds. I join the Court’s opinion, but write separately to express my view that state law determines what property interest petitioners possess and that traditional takings doctrine will determine whether the Government must compensate petitioners for the burden imposed on any property interest they possess.

As the Court acknowledges, ante, at 8-9, 15-16, state law creates and defines the scope of the reversionary or other real property interests' affected by the ICC’s actions pursuant to §208 of the National Trails System Act Amendments of 1983, 16 U. S. C. § 1247 (d). In determining whether a taking has occurred, “we are mindful of the basic axiom that ‘[property interests . . . are not created by the Constitution. Rather, they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law.’” Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co., 467 U. S. 986 , 1001 (1984), quoting Webb’s Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc. v. Beckwith, 449 U. S. 155 , 161 (1980) (internal quotation omitted). Although original federal grants of railway easements may influence certain disputes over interests in land, see Great Northern R. Co. v. United States, 315 U. S. 262 (1942); Idaho v. Oregon Short Line R. Co., 617 F. Supp. 207 (Idaho 1985), no such federal role is present in this case. Rather, the parties sharply dispute what interest, according to Vermont law, the State of

It is also clear that the Interstate Commerce Act, and the ICC’s actions pursuant to it, pre-empt the operation and effect of certain state laws that “conflict with or interfere with federal authority over the same activity.” Chicago & North Western Transp. Co. v. Kalo Brick & Tile Co., 450 U. S. 311 , 319 (1981); see id., at 318-319 . States may not impose obligations upon carriers at odds with those governed through the ICC’s “exclusive” and “plenary authority to regulate . . . rail carriers’ cessations of service on their lines.” Id., at 323 ; see id., at 324-327 . A State may again exercise its regulatory powers once the ICC authorizes a carrier’s abandonment of service, and, thus, unless the Commission attaches postabandonment conditions to the abandonment certificate,

The scope of the Commission’s authority to regulate abandonments, thereby delimiting the ambit of federal power, is an issue quite distinct from whether the Commission’s exercise of power over matters within its jurisdiction effected a taking of petitioners’ property. Cf. Kaiser Aetna v. United States, 444 U. S. 164 , 174 (1979) (“[T]here is no question but that Congress could assure the public a free right of access .... Whether a statute or regulation that went so far amounted to a ‘taking,’ however, is an entirely separate question”). Although the Commission’s actions may pre-empt the operation and effect of certain state laws, those actions do not displace state law as the traditional source of the real property interests. See Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co., supra, at 1003-1004, 1012 (state law creates property right in trade secrets for purposes of Fifth Amendment, and regulatory regime does not pre-empt state property law). The Commission’s actions may delay property owners’ enjoyment of their reversionary interests, but that delay burdens and defeats the property interest rather than suspends or defers the vesting of those property rights. See National Wildlife Federation v. ICC, 271 U. S. App. D. C. 1 , 11-12, and n. 16, 850 F. 2d 694 , 704-705, and n. 16 (1988). Any other conclusion would convert the ICC’s power to pre-empt conflicting state regulation of interstate commerce into the power to pre-empt the rights guaranteed by state property law, a result incompatible with the Fifth Amendment. See Ruckels

The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit adopted just this unjustified interpretation of the effect of the ICC’s exercise of federal power. The court concluded that even if petitioners held the reversionary interest they claim, no taking occurred because “no reversionary interest can or would vest” until the ICC determines that abandonment is appropriate. See 853 F. 2d 145 , 151 (1988). This view conflates the scope of the ICC’s power with the existence of a compensable taking and threatens to read the Just Compensation Clause out of the Constitution. The ICC may possess the power to postpone enjoyment of reversionary interests, but the Fifth Amendment and well-established doctrine indicate that in certain circumstances the Government must compensate owners of those property interests when it exercises that power. See First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles, 482 U. S. 304 , 314-315 (1987) (The Taking Clause “does not prohibit the taking of private property, but instead places a condition on the exercise of that power,” and the Clause “is designed not to limit the governmental interference with property rights per se, but rather to secure compensation in the event of otherwise proper interference amounting to a taking”). Nothing in the Court’s opinion disavows these principles. The Court’s conclusion that § 8(d) authorizes rails-to-trails conversions that amount to takings, ante, at 13, and its conclusion that “under any view of takings law, only some rail-to-trail conversions will amount to takings,” ante, at 16, are inconsistent with the Second Circuit’s view. Indeed, if the Second Circuit’s

Well-established principles will govern analysis of whether the burden the ICC’s actions impose upon state-defined real property interests amounts to a compensable taking. We recently concluded in Nollan v. California Coastal Comm’n, 483 U. S. 825 , 831-832 (1987), that a taking would occur if the Government appropriated a public easement. See also Kaiser Aetna, supra, at 179-180 (“[T]he ‘right to exclude,’ so universally held to be a fundamental element of the property right, falls within this category of interests that the Government cannot take without compensation”) (footnote omitted). In such a case, a “permanent physical occupation” of the underlying property “has occurred . . . where individuals are given a permanent and continuous right to pass to and fro, so that the real property may continuously be traversed, even though no particular individual is permitted to station himself permanently upon the premises.” Nollan, supra, at 832; see also, Kaiser Aetna, supra, at 180 (“[E]ven if the Government physically invades only an easement in property, it must nonetheless pay just compensation”). The Government’s appropriation of other, lesser servitudes may also impose a burden requiring payment of just compensation. See United States v. Causby, 328 U. S. 256 (1946); Portsmouth Harbor Land & Hotel Co. v. United States, 260 U. S. 327 (1922). And the Court recently concluded that the Government’s burdening of property for a distinct period, short of a permanent taking, may nevertheless mandate compensation. See First English Evangelical Lutheran Church, supra, at 318-319. Of course, a party may gain the benefit of these principles only after establishing possession of a property interest

With this understanding, and for the reasons set forth in the Court’s opinion, I agree that the judgment below should be affirmed.