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Upholding the treaty is what it looks like from this article.

State Supreme Court rules for access to Taylor Ranch
By ERIN SMITH
The Pueblo Chieftain

SAN LUIS - The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday ruled on behalf of the petitioners in a 21-year-old lawsuit with roots in the 19th century.

In a 4-2 decision, with one justice abstaining, the state’s highest court said that landowners in Colorado’s oldest town can access La Sierra, also known as "the Mountain Tract," purchased by the late North Carolina lumberman Jack T. Taylor in 1960, for some of the historic uses they claimed: namely to graze livestock, gather firewood and cut timber.

Three other historic uses the petitioners claimed under the 1844 Mexican land grant were for hunting, fishing and recreation on the 77,500-acre ranch that now belongs to energy magnate Lou Pai.

Both the trial court and the court of appeals held that the landowners have no legally enforceable rights. The petitioners claimed their rights under Mexican law, prescription and an express or implied grant from Carlos Beaubien in 1863.

In its ruling Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court noted that the landowners claimed that community rights to common lands not only are recognized by Mexican law, but also are integral to the settlement of an area. The landowners pointed out that in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States government agreed that the land rights of the residents of the ceded territories would be "inviolably respected." Under the landowners’ theory, the treaty dictates that the court apply Mexican law to the Taylor Ranch and accordingly recognize the settlement rights.

The landowners further argued that use rights could be found via prescription. For this claim, they pointed to their regular use of the Taylor Ranch land for more than 100 years until the area was fenced in 1960.

Lastly, the landowners asserted that their use rights were obtained by either an express or implied grant from Beaubien in 1863. For this claim, the landowners relied primarily on the Beaubien Document.

In its ruling the Court said, "Evidence of traditional settlement practices, repeated references to settlement rights in documents associated with the Sangre de Cristo grant including Taylor’s deed, the 100-year history of the landowners’ use of the Taylor Ranch, and other evidence of necessity, reliance, and intention support a finding of implied rights in the Taylor Ranch."

Jeff Goldstein, one of the attorneys for the Land Rights Council, which brought the suit in 1981, said in a telephone conversation from Denver on Monday that any appeal would be to the United States Supreme Court. But any appeal would be after issues the state Supreme Court wants briefed occur.

Goldstein called Monday’s decision a "wonderful result. It was everything we could ask for. . . It obviously would have been nice if the (Justice Alex) Martinez view won out," allowing the hunting, fishing and recreation rights.

Goldstein said all the facts his clients argued were in the decision. He called the decision "significant" in land grant cases in general.

Under an 1863 document, land grant owner Beaubien gave area residents the right to pasture, firewood and timber on what is now known as the Taylor Ranch. In 1960, Taylor bought the ranch and closed it off to local residents. Over the years, there was some violence. There were allegations by locals that Taylor’s men used violence against them, beating some people up who trespassed onto his land. Once, Taylor, himself, was shot in the ankle.

Twenty-five years ago, community organizer Ray Otero of Grand Junction was asked by a local friend, Gene Sanchez, to come to San Luis and help organize local residents for a restoration of their historic rights.

Otero, now 56, disabled and retired, said from his Grand Junction home that he helped found the Land Rights Council in 1977 and has always believed the group’s cause was just. "We are seeing justice done finally," Otero said.

Both Goldstein and Otero said the case was meticulously researched and dogged determination for the justice of the people’s cause produced the desired result. Taylor’s heirs, led by son Zachary Taylor, continued the late lumberman’s fight against the local residents. Pai bought the ranch in 1999 for $23 million with money the Securities and Exchange Commission maintains he obtained between 1997 and 2000 from cashing out $353.7 million in Enron stock. Whether Pai intends to appeal the decision, was not known on Monday. Otero said that if the Colorado Supreme Court had not ruled in the petitioners’ favor, they would have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court so he assumes Pai will.

Goldstein said that dozens of lawyers have worked on the case without charge. Court costs have been borne by the petitioners. Costs and damages weren’t requested in the suit. With the lengthy case, number of courts involved and various appeals, he estimated that 30 judges have been involved in the case.

Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, who said she and Justice Nancy Rice did not believe that the landowners had established their right to use the Taylor Ranch lands as they claimed, wrote the dissenting opinion.

"They cannot, in my view, rely upon the Beaubien Document because it did not comply with the laws in effect at the time of its execution by failing to identify specific grantees. The document was not ambiguous, and therefore cannot support rights by implication. Further, none of the theories for implication of an easement apply to these facts," Kourlis said. Attorney General Ken Salazar, in a statement from his office on Monday, said he did not think the high court’s ruling meant an end to the litigation because of the contentiousness of the case. He raised the possibility of a motion for reconsideration by the court and even a possibility of a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. He suggested the possibility of crafting a solution satisfactory to all interests in lieu of continued litigation.
http://www.chieftain.com/display/archive/2002/june/25/ni2.htm