Santa Fe Pacific Railroad v. United States

OPINION

ALLEGRA, Judge.

This case is the modern legacy of a series of events that began in 1866, when the United States, flush with a desire for expansion, made large land grants to the railroads to promote rail construction in its developing Southwest territories. Some of these lands eventually wended their way to the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Company (plaintiff or “Santa Fe”). In this ease, Santa Fe claims that 862 acres of property in Arizona granted by the United States in 1866 were repossessed under the Western Lands Dispute Act of July 2, 1993, Pub.L. No. 103-48, 107 Stat. 234, resulting…