Bonanza Man wrote:The Feds avoided a lawsuit because of the Montana law. Somebody tripped and fell in Glacier Nat'l Park or something and wanted to sue Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam said we are not liable because of Montana's law. And they were right

I am confused...maybe I misunderstood you...I thought you were referring to the federal government shying away from suing the state due to the state law. If you are referring to an individual trying to sue either the state or federal government then the state law is inconsequential as both the state and the federal government have sovereign immunity. In this case the feds did not avoid a lawsuit due to the Montana law, they avoided it becouse they did not agree to allow themselves to be sued...soverign immunity.

lowflybye wrote:

Bonanza Man wrote:The Feds avoided a lawsuit because of the Montana law. Somebody tripped and fell in Glacier Nat'l Park or something and wanted to sue Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam said we are not liable because of Montana's law. And they were right

I am confused...maybe I misunderstood you...I thought you were referring to the federal government shying away from suing the state due to the state law. If you are referring to an individual trying to sue either the state or federal government then the state law is inconsequential as both the state and the federal government have sovereign immunity. In this case the feds did not avoid a lawsuit due to the Montana law, they avoided it becouse they did not agree to allow themselves to be sued...soverign immunity.

I stand to be corrected if wrong, but I believe that the United States of America enjoys sovereign immunity from lawsuits, unless a specific category of lawsuit has been exempted from immunity by Congress. For example, Congress specifically authorized lawsuits by citizens against the Federal government when it comes to enforcing Federal law. There are only a handful of specific exemptions that have been granted. General tort lawsuits have never been exempted from sovereign immunity.

And in any event there is no state law anywhere that can protect the Federal government from the specified exemptions to sovereign immunity due to the supremacy clause of the Constitution.