Supreme Court deals setback to rails-to-trails movement (8-1)

[brooklynite]

8. You would be wrong...

It was Sotomayor:

"Since 1903, this Court has held that rights of way were
granted to railroads with an implied possibility of reverter
to the United States. Regardless of whether these rights
of way are labeled “easements” or “fees,” nothing in Great
Northern overruled that conclusion. By changing course
today, the Court undermines the legality of thousands of
miles of former rights of way that the public now enjoys as
means of transportation and recreation. And lawsuits
challenging the conversion of former rails to recreational
trails alone may well cost American taxpayers hundreds of
millions of dollars.* I do not believe the law requires this
result, and I respectfully dissent. "