Mountain States Legal Foundation

Mountain States Legal Foundation
Formation1977
Type501(c)(3) nonprofit public interest law firm
PurposePublic interest litigation
HeadquartersLakewood, Colorado
Region served
United States
President and CEO
Cristen Wohlgemuth
Revenue$852,425 (2025)[1]
Staff13 (2026)[2]
Website

Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit[3] conservative free market public interest law firm based in Lakewood, Colorado.[4][5][6] Its lawyers argue cases on property rights and federal land management in the American West,[6] as well as gun rights[7] and other constitutional law cases.

Past attorneys for MSLF include James G. Watt and Gale Norton, who became U.S. secretaries of the interior in the Reagan administration and George W. Bush administration, respectively; William Perry Pendley, acting director of the Bureau of Land Management in the first Trump administration; and John Kyl, former U.S. senator from Arizona.[8][9]

History and activities

MSLF was incorporated in Denver, Colorado, in 1976 with funding from the National Legal Center for the Public Interest and Joseph Coors.[10] MSLF's first president was James G. Watt. MSLF filed amicus briefs opposing an affirmative action program at the University of Colorado Law School, opposing business inspections, and opposing Idaho's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.[10]

MSLF is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, which also approves all legal actions taken by MSLF, and assisted in the selection of its litigation by a volunteer Board of Litigation.[11][12] MSLF employs a full-time staff, which includes attorneys who conduct all of the litigation in which MSLF engages. The organization reports its annual budget to be over $2 million.[13]

MSLF's office is in Lakewood, Colorado, near Denver. MSLF publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Litigator, which addresses topical legal issues.

Since its creation, MSLF has argued cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and numerous federal courts of appeals. In 1995, its president, William Perry Pendley, argued before the Supreme Court in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, the case in which the justices ruled that preferential treatment based on race is almost always unconstitutional.[14][15] MSLF has continued its litigation regarding affirmative action, reverse discrimination, and racial quotas and preferences, and also has litigated regarding the Voting Rights Act.[16]

In addition, MSLF has litigated regarding property rights. Its lawsuits have involved the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, (especially regarding wetlands), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Forest Management Act, the Antiquities Act, the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960, and the General Mining Act of 1872, and bars on and restrictions regarding the ability to develop natural resources such as energy and minerals and forest and agricultural products. In a case dismissed in 2002, MSLF sued George W. Bush for failing to overturn a designation of national monuments action by Bill Clinton.[17]

MSLF's sources of funding have included Texaco, U.S. Steel, Phillips Petroleum, and ExxonMobil corporations, and Castle Rock Foundation.[18]

Notable employees

Notable past employees include:[19][8][20][9]

References

  1. ↑ "Mountain States Legal Foundation - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. May 9, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Mountain States Legal Foundation Staff". Mountainstateslegal.org. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Mountain States Legal Foundation". projects.propublica.org. ProPublica. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  4. ↑ Lewin, Tamar (July 20, 1982). "Talking Business with Roger J Marzulla of Mountain States Legal Foundation Free Market Philosophy". New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  5. ↑ Kim, Caitlyn. "The New Acting Director Of The BLM Once Advocated For Selling Off Public Lands". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Risen, James (January 31, 2001). "Vote Lifts Conservative Land Groups". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Boulder Rifle Club, Jon Caldara sue city over assault weapon ban". The Denver Post. May 17, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  8. 1 2 "LAW: Foundation that launched Interior chiefs Watt, Norton doubles down on litigation - Thursday, January 2, 2014". www.eenews.net. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  9. 1 2 Ketcham, Christopher (February 3, 2020). "The Trump Official Who Could Obliterate Public Lands". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Bellant, Russ. The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, p 85. South End Press, 1991. ISBN 9780896084162
  11. ↑ http://www.mountainstateslegal.org/about-us/board-of-directors
  12. ↑ http://www.mountainstateslegal.org/about-us/board-of-litigation
  13. ↑ http://www.charitynavigator.org
  14. ↑ Lacayo, Richard; Novak, Viveca (June 22, 2003). "How Rehnquist Changed America". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
  15. ↑ Lindgren, Kristina (November 29, 1995). "LITIGATION : Sagebrush Lawyer Reins In the Feds : Legal foundation chief helps lead the West's battle for more property rights, less regulation". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  16. ↑ Staff (October 9, 2001). "United States v. Blaine County, Montana - Mountain States Legal Foundation". Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  17. ↑ Lindstrom, Matthew J. (2011). Encyclopedia of the U.S. Government and the Environment. ABC-CLIO. p. 508. ISBN 9781598842388.
  18. ↑ Lindstrom, p 507.
  19. ↑ JEFFREY ROSENAPRIL 17, 2005 (April 17, 2005). "The Unregulated Offensive - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ "Steven J. Lechner". June 8, 2020.
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