Federal enclave
In United States law, a federal enclave is a parcel of federal property within a state considered under the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. These enclaves are used for the many different functions of the U.S. federal government including post offices, arsenals, dams, road, etc.; many are usually owned, secured, and administered by the U.S. federal government itself. The U.S., in many cases, has also received similar jurisdictional authority over privately owned properties which it leases, as well as privately owned and occupied properties which are located within the exterior boundaries of a large area which a state has ceded jurisdiction to.
Since the late 1950s, it has been an official federal policy that states should have full concurrent jurisdiction on all federal enclaves, an approach endorsed by some legal experts. In 1960, the year of the latest comprehensive inquiry, 7% of federal property had enclave status. Of the land with federal enclave status, 57% were under "concurrent" state jurisdiction. The remaining 43%, on which some state laws do not apply, was scattered throughout the U.S. In 1960, there were about 5,000 enclaves with about one million people living on them altogether. While a comprehensive inquiry has not been performed since 1960, these statistics are likely much lower today since many federal enclaves were military bases that have since been closed and/or transferred out of federal ownership.
Relation to other subdivisions
Since the 1953 Howard v. Commissioners case, the Supreme Court has held that the collection of city and state taxes from federal enclave residents is permissible, thus establishing the "Friction Not Fiction" doctrine.Based on the "Friction Not Fiction" doctrine, residents of federal enclaves have the right to vote in the elections of the state in which the federal enclave is situated. This was challenged by a Maryland law in 1968, the subject of the case Evans v. Cornman; the case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1970 and overruled the Maryland law, thus upholding the voting rights of enclave residents and establishing that they should be regarded as residents of the state in question.
Federal enclaves are to be distinguished from federal territories and possessions administered under Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2; the latter once included all the territory that has since become states and still includes insular territories Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and others. Historically, Congress has not exercised a full array of state-like powers over such territories but has tried to organize them into self-governing entities—as was done with the Northwest Ordinance and the Southwest Ordinance.
History
Early developments
The first federal enclaves were created by the same clause of the Constitution that created the District of Columbia. That clause provides for the United States to exercise "exclusive Legislation" over the new Seat of Government and "like authority" over:Because of the Enclave Clause, whenever a state government consented to the purchase of property by the federal government for a needful building, the U.S. obtained exclusive legislative jurisdiction over that parcel of property. In 1841, the Congress enacted a general law requiring state consent for all federal building projects. Moreover, the U.S. Attorneys General ruled that, in consenting to purchase, the states could reserve no jurisdiction except for the service of criminal and civil processes.
1885: Cession and reservation as alternatives
In 1885, the Supreme Court ruled that there were two additional ways in which the U.S. could acquire federal enclaves: the states could "cede" legislative jurisdiction to the United States and/or the United States could "reserve" legislative jurisdiction at the time of statehood. The Supreme Court added that these "cessions" and "reservations" were not limited to Enclave Clause purposes.Because state laws did not apply to federal enclaves, Congress provided a few basic criminal laws in the Federal Crimes Act of 1790, later adopting a series of Assimilative Crimes Acts and "federalizing" each state's crimes by making them prosecutable in federal courts. The Assimilative Crimes Act only applies to federal properties where the federal government has obtained exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction; federal property under a proprietorial interest only cannot assimilate state laws and enforce them as federal laws.
International law rule
Congress provided no civil laws to govern these enclaves. Thus, in 1885, the Supreme Court held that the "international law rule" applied. That rule states that when a territory is transferred from one government to another, laws for the protection of private rights continue in force until abrogated or changed by the new government.Under the doctrine of extraterritoriality, a federal enclave was treated as a "state within a state" until 1953; therefore, enclave residents were not residents of the overarching state. As a result, they could not vote in state elections, attend public schools, obtain a divorce in state courts, or call upon state law enforcement officers to protect them from criminals.
After 1900: Congress begins to authorize state laws
In the 20th century, Congress gradually authorized the enforcement of some state laws on federal enclaves. In 1928, Congress made some state laws, governing wrongful death and personal injuries, applicable to federal enclaves. In the late 1930s, Congress authorized states to apply their state taxes on fuel, income, sales and use, and state laws governing worker's compensation and unemployment insurance.1937: Supreme Court allows states to reserve jurisdiction
In 1937, because of concern over the lack of state law on federal enclaves, the Supreme Court held that states could reserve some jurisdiction to themselves in consenting to federal legislative jurisdiction. In response, the states began to amend their "consent" and "cession" statutes to reserve state jurisdiction, including the power to tax enclave residents.To distinguish earlier "exclusive" jurisdiction enclaves from those acquired after the state amendments, the newer enclaves were labeled "partial" jurisdiction—the specific label "concurrent" was given to enclaves over which the state had full jurisdiction. Finally, non-enclave federal property was called "proprietorial interest only."
February 1, 1940: cessation of jurisdiction
Effective February 1, 1940, Congress repealed the 1841 statute requiring state consent to federal purchases; it instead said that the acquisition of federal property after that date would no longer result in the transfer of jurisdiction to the U.S. federal government unless the head of the federal agency in charge of the property filed a notice with the state governor accepting whatever jurisdiction was offered by the state. However, during World War II, the United States acquired many new military installations, during which the Secretary of War sent numerous letters to state governors accepting whatever jurisdiction the state offered, often without describing the location or boundaries of these military installations.Post-WWII: Courts apply state laws without retrocession
After World War II, states began to apply state laws to enclave residents without waiting for Congress to act. Thus, in 1952, a California court gave enclave residents the right to vote in state elections, rejecting the "extraterritoriality" doctrine, and holding that enclave residents were residents of the state. In 1970, the Supreme Court agreed in Evans v. Cornman, holding that all enclave residents had a right to vote in state elections.In 1950, without addressing the jurisdictional issue directly, Congress passed legislation providing federal financial aid to schools in localities impacted by federal facilities. Six years later, in 1956, the government reported that because of this federal aid, "not a single child is being denied the right to a public school education because of his residence on a federal enclave".
Earlier, courts in Kansas, Georgia, and New Mexico held they had no jurisdiction to grant divorces to residents of federal enclaves. After each state amended its divorce statutes to permit such divorces, however, court decisions in each state have upheld the validity of these statutes. Today, every state treats enclave residents as residents of the state for purposes of divorce proceedings.
1953: Abolishment of the extraterritoriality doctrine
The extraterritoriality doctrine was abolished by the Supreme Court in 1953 in Howard v. Commissioners. The city of Louisville, Kentucky, had annexed a federal enclave into its city limits, thereby allowing the collection of city taxes from enclave residents under the Buck Act. Residents of the enclave argued that the annexation was improper because the federal enclave "ceased to be a part of Kentucky when the United States assumed exclusive jurisdiction over it"; the Supreme Court rejected the argument, holding that the annexation did not interfere with federal functions and emphasized "friction, not fiction":1956: state law without retrocession, concurrent jurisdiction
In 1956, three years after Howard v. Commissioners, the Supreme Court in Offutt Housing Co. v. Sarpy County upheld Congress' power to authorize the application of state laws to federal enclaves without a "relinquishment" of jurisdiction. In affirming the state's right to tax a private builder of military housing, the Supreme Court emphasized that the Congress' authorization for state taxation on enclave property was not a retrocession: "We do not hold that Congress has relinquished this power over these areas. We hold only that Congress, in the exercise of this power, has permitted such state taxation as is involved in the present case."Additionally, federal government reports in 1956 and 1957 concluded that the states should have full concurrent jurisdiction on all federal enclaves. In 1969, the Public Land Law Review Commission published a report on developments since the 1956 and 1957 reports, observing that those reports had been successful in changing federal agency policy and limiting further acquisition of federal enclaves. The 1969 report said that in 1960, there were about 5,000 enclaves with about a million people living on them.