Constitution Index · H.J.Res. 104 · 2025-07-10

Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to "Miles City Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment".

Latest official status (2025-12-11): Became Public Law No: 119-48.

Official source ↗

Constitutional grade

A

Constitutional

HJRES 104 is a lawful exercise of Congress's Property Clause power that removes a federal closure and restores open leasing consideration, with no rights infringement, no sovereignty restraint, and no due-process taking.

Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 Article I, Section 7 Amendment I Amendment II Amendment IV Amendment IX Amendment V Amendment X Amendment XIV

SI-generated grade · passed automated checks (real Constitution citation, language rules) · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology · Report an error: hello@valuesforamerica.com

The five checks

Enumerated powers · passes

Congress has express authority over federal territory and property under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2, the Property Clause, and express lawmaking authority through the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article I, Section 8, Clause 18. A joint resolution of disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5 that nullifies a Bureau of Land Management resource plan amendment, passed by both Houses and presented under Article I, Section 7, is a direct exercise of that supervisory power over an executive agency managing federal land.

Bill of Rights · passes

The resolution restricts no protected right. It imposes no limit on speech, religion, press, assembly or petition under the First Amendment, no disarmament under the Second Amendment, no search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment, and no trial or punishment rule under Amendments Five through Eight. It opens federal land to consideration for leasing rather than penalizing belief or expression.

Individual liberty · passes

The measure removes rather than imposes a restraint on use of person, property, labor, and contract protected by the Ninth Amendment and the liberty component of the Fifth Amendment. By voiding a rule that made zero acres open for coal leasing, it restores the ability of miners, lessees, utilities, and consumers to contract and produce subject to otherwise valid law. The government bears the burden to justify a closure, and no compelling constitutional justification for a total closure was enacted in statute.

Decentralization · passes

Under the Tenth Amendment, federal control should be the minimum necessary. Here the minimum necessary level for disposition of federal title is federal, per Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2. The resolution does not consolidate power upward: it nullifies a 2024 federal closure of 1,745,040 acres and returns the leasing question to statute, state co-management, local input, and open bidding by firms and workers. Individuals and families can develop energy under lease, counties can plan and tax it, and Montana can co-manage surface impacts, so market and lower-level governance can carry out the activity once the federal bar is removed.

Due process and takings · passes

No person is deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process under the Fifth Amendment and Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, and no property is taken for public use without just compensation. The Act itself creates no adjudication, no penalty, and no seizure. It uses chapter 8 of title 5, with bicameral passage and presentment under Article I, Section 7, Clauses 2-3, giving public notice through enrolled law. Future leases remain subject to contract, hearing, and compensation rules.

Provenance

Grade ID
181
Rubric version
vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0
Graded
2026-10-08 10:40 UTC
Engine
primary SI engine
Source fetched
2026-10-08 09:43 UTC
Source SHA-256
f30bcc9e8c458e33d56e5c90c00c76e1149efc91eb9c5406da2620328a4bda51
Checks
si-editorial-standard/1.0: real Constitution citation, language rules

Version history · never overwritten

GradeGradedRubric Source hashStatus
A · #181 2026-10-08 vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0 f30bcc9e8c45 current

Cite this

Values for America. “Constitutional grade: H.J.Res. 104, Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to "Miles City Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment"..” VFA Constitution Index, grade 181 (rubric vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0), graded October 8, 2026. https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution-index/grades/181. Accessed 2026-10-20.

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