R.E. Rodgers and Barbara Rodgers v. James G. Watt, Secretary of the Interior

BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge;

Appellants, R.E. Rodgers and Barbara J. Rodgers (the Rodgers), appeal from the district court’s grant of the government’s motion for summary judgment. In accepting the recommendation of the magistrate, the district court sustained an administrative decision by the Department of the Interior declaring five of the appellants’ mining claims null and void, because discovery of a valuable mineral deposit was not made pri- or to the land’s withdrawal from operation of the mining laws. On appeal, the Rodgers argue that the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and the Interior…