States’ Fight for Bases Stays Alive

The Bush administration’s plan for streamlining military bases nationwide faced a potential delay after the Supreme Court declined Thursday to end a state-federal power struggle, rejecting an emergency administration request to rebuff a spate of legal challenges by governors trying to preserve prized local installations.

The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission had been due to issue its report to President Bush detailing its recommendations for closing and reorganizing the nation’s military bases, the first such overhaul in 10 years.

But federal judges in Connecticut and Tennessee issued rulings this week in lawsuits filed by state officials blocking the base panel from giving Bush a full report.

In response, U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement urgently asked the Supreme Court to reject the claims by the governors, who argued that the Pentagon did not have the power to shut down or “realign” Air National Guard bases in their states.

However, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg denied the administration’s appeal for the high court’s intervention, saying a federal court in New York also was handling a request to block federal base-closing action. Ginsburg said the administration could refile its request after the New York court acts, or if it fails to act promptly.

“This court should not short-circuit the normal review process absent a showing of irreparable harm stronger than that presented here,” Ginsburg wrote.

As a result, the base closing commission submitted a report to Bush, but omitted any reference to its findings concerning Air National Guard facilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, South Carolina and Maryland.

Without court intervention, Bush was expected to either forward the report to Congress by Sept. 23 or send it back to the commission with his recommendations for changes. In that case, the commission would have until Oct. 20 to resubmit its report to Bush, who was required to send it to Congress by Nov. 7. Congress would have 45 days to approve or reject the recommendations as a group, without changes.

It was not clear what effect the court cases would have on that schedule. To date, no Congress has ever rejected a base closure panel’s findings.

The result of the state lawsuits, federal government attorneys said in their plea to Ginsburg on Thursday, is that Bush was given “an incomplete report from the commission.”

The grappling over National Guard bases represents a struggle between federal and state wishes and authorities.

Several states stand to lose bases and equipment, at a substantial cost to their economies, due to the action by the federal government.

The base closing process -- the fifth such round since 1988 -- was particularly contentious this year, after the Pentagon in May proposed closing dozens of bases nationwide. Governors in at least six states filed lawsuits seeking to halt the process, while local and state officials across the country mounted furious lobbying campaigns in an effort to spare local bases.

In the wake of those efforts, the base closing panel overturned 13 Pentagon recommendations, proposed major alterations to 13 other recommendations and suggested several of its own base closure proposals.

The base panel’s report reduced the amount the Pentagon projected it could save from $48 billion over 20 years to a more modest $37 billion, according to commission Chairman Anthony J. Principi. However, Principi said the commission members, a collection of former commanders and public officials, placed their emphasis on military necessity.

“While we listened carefully to the input from local communities, military value was our top priority,” Principi said.

The legal wrangling is expected to continue, but federal attorneys believe the authority of the Pentagon to control the nation’s military bases ultimately will prevail.

“This is not a close case,” Clement told the high court. “Placing the commission and the president in this position is fundamentally antithetical to the proper operation” of the base closure panel.