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Riedel v. Anderson6/4/2003
nt out that under the statute the incumbent lessee must meet the highest competing bid in order to exercise the renewal preference. They further argue that any alleged diminution in revenue would constitute injury to the State's common schools and its students, not to Riedel personally, so that there is no causal connection between the alleged unconstitutionality and any injury to Riedel. See Branson Sch. Dist., 161 F.3d at 630-31.
However, although Riedel may not have clearly articulated a concrete and personal injury , it is implicit in the relief he seeks, namely, that the Board be enjoined from enforcing the preferential renewal statute and that they be ordered to award the lease to him. The statute has clearly worked to deprive Riedel of a lease to the subject school lands, an injury much more direct and personal to him than that at stake in Jolley.
Moreover, we have recognized a relaxed standing requirement in matters of great public interest or importance. We reviewed in detail the development of that doctrine in Jolley, . As recited there, we have applied the great public interest doctrine when a constitutional question is presented or where there is an issue concerning apportionment of state revenues among governmental entities. We have invoked the doctrine in cases involving the constitutionality of school financing, Washakie Cty. Sch. Dist. No. One v. Herschler, 606 P.2d 310, 317 (Wyo. 1980); the tax exempt status of a public hospital, Memorial Hosp. of Laramie Cty. v. Dep't of Revenue and Taxation, 770 P.2d 223 (Wyo. 1989); the constitutionality of the Wyoming Professional Review Panel Act, State ex rel. Wyo. Ass'n of Consulting Eng'rs and Land Surveyors v. Sullivan, 798 P.2d 826, 828-29 (Wyo. 1990); the entitlement of a school district to interest on school district funds held by the county treasurer, Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs v. Laramie Cty. Sch. Dist. No. One, 884 P.2d 946, 949-50 (Wyo. 1994); and the constitutional scope of the governor's veto power, Management Council of the Wyo. Legislature v. Geringer, 953 P.2d 839, 841-42 (Wyo. 1998).
We conclude that the constitutional challenge to the statute at issue here requires that we decide the status of the state's obligations with regard to the large inventory of state school lands. This is a matter of public importance comparable to the significant issues in the above cases that will affect not only the preferential right to renew statute but could inform all of the Board's management decisions with regard to those lands while potentially affecting a major source of school funding. For these reasons it is appropriate that we invoke the great public interest exception to the standing requirement in this case.
II. The Status of School Lands in Wyoming
Turning to the main issue, we must first decide whether the Wyoming Act of Admission creates a trust obligation with regard to the State's ownership of those lands. As recited above, each state's admission to the Union was a unique situation, negotiated between Congress and the respective territories. There was an evolution in the various states' enabling acts passed by Congress, as well as an evolution in the terms of the states' acceptance of admission.
At one extreme, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the relatively unrestricted grants to Michigan and Alabama did not create a federal trust as to the school lands but merely a "solemn agreement" that the lands would be used for the purposes recited. Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 289-90 n.18, 106 S.Ct. 2932, 2947 n.18, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986); see also Schmidt, 232 U.S. at 173-74, 34 S.Ct. at 302; Cooper, 59 U.S. (18 How.) at 181-82. At the other extreme, the Suprem
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