Mountain States Legal Foundation

The Mountain States Legal Foundation is a partner of the State Policy Network, a coalition of free-market state-level policy organizations. ⁴ While MSLF is non-partisan, members of its board have affiliations with the Republican Party.

Activity

The Mountain States Legal Foundation is a public-interest law firm. MSLF’s mission is to protect individual liberty, property rights, and support the principles of limited government by litigating cases to protect citizens’ Constitutional rights. ¹ Much of MSLF’s litigating involves Second Amendment rights, property rights, environmental regulations, and affirmative action. ²

Many of MSLF’s cases involve property rights. In 2019, MSLF helped a Colorado resident sue the Bureau of Land Management for negligence, after a structure on neighboring federal land collapsed and damaged the resident’s property. ⁵ In 2018, MSLF saw the end of a client’s 35-year fight against the Department of the Interior for the unlawful continual suspension and eventual cancellation of his lawfully issued federal oil and gas lease. ⁶

MSLF has supported numerous cases against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2016, MSLF represented the American Exploration and Mining Association, claiming that a 2015 “Waters of the United States” rule added to the Clean Water Act violated both the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, creating more federal regulations that would impact small businesses. ⁷ The 2015 rule was repealed in 2019 and replaced with the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule.” ⁸

In 2017, MSLF filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Sunnyside Gold Corporation. It claims that the EPA violated federal law, federal regulations, and a ruling of the Supreme Court when it designated a large area of land in San Juan County, Colorado as a Superfund site, in order to minimize responsibility for a 3 million gallon mineralized water spill. As Sunnyside owns property in the EPA’s newly designated Superfund site, it was financial liable for performing required remediation efforts necessary after the spill. ⁹

MSLF’s litigating also involves the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, especially as it regards government affirmative action programs. MSLF challenged an Obama administration scheme at the Department of Transportation related to the hiring of air traffic controllers for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The program favored applicants based on race in place of the FAA’s former practice of hiring based on skills and training. MSLF also claimed that this new system has had the unintended consequence of discriminating against qualified minority applicants. ¹⁰

MSLF’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms is the United State’s first in-house litigation center exclusively concerned with Second Amendment rights. The Center focuses on an individual’s right to keep, bear, and choose arms. MSLF states that Second Amendment rights are under attack, pointing to the enactment of red flag laws, statutes limiting magazine capacity, and bans on “assault weapons,” which it claims will lead to a ban on “millions of commonly used firearms.” ¹¹

MSLF, the Cato Institute, the Reason Foundation, the Independence Institute, and the Individual Rights Foundation supported a Pennsylvania man’s petition to obtain a firearm, after he was denied due to a 15-year old misdemeanor. The groups claim that current federal law regarding convictions is so broad that it prohibits non-violent citizens from possessing firearms in violation of their Second Amendment rights. ¹²

MSLF’s Legal Fellowship Program trains future lawyers to protect constitutional rights through mentorship and experience working with MSLF’s litigation areas, including property rights and Second Amendment rights. ¹³

Funding

The Mountain States Legal Foundation was created in 1976 with funding from the National Legal Center for the Public Interest ($50,000) and Joseph Coors ($25,000), former president of the Coors Brewing Company. ¹⁴

MSLF receives donations from undisclosed individuals, corporations, and foundations. Tax records show notable donations from organizations like the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, which donated $25,000 in 2016; ¹⁵ the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which donated $10,000 in 2014; ¹⁶ and the Armstrong Foundation, which donated $70,000 between 2012 and 2017. ¹⁷

People

Cristen Wohlgemuth works as president and CEO of MSLF. Wohlgemuth formerly was executive director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Claremont Institute and a policy advisor to former Governor Rick Perry (R-TX). ¹⁸

David McDonald works as an attorney for MSLF and formerly was a legal associate at the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies. ¹⁹

Carl Oberg is the controller for MSLF. Oberg formerly served as a trade compliance officer in the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, worked as a Policy Associate at Americans for Prosperity, and was COO at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). ²⁰

Nicole Sanders serves as a major gifts officer for MSLF. Sanders formerly worked as a major gifts officer at Students for Liberty, as director of student programs at the Atlas Society, as a field representative for the Leadership Institute, and as a field associate for Americans for Prosperity. ²¹

William Perry Pendley worked as the president of MSLF for nearly thirty years. In 2019, Pendley became the deputy director for policy and programs at the Bureau of Land Management in the Trump administration. ²²

James Watt was MSLF’s first president before serving as the Secretary of the Interior under the Reagan administration. ²³

Gale Norton formerly worked as a senior attorney for MSLF. Norton served as Secretary of the Interior in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2006. ²⁴

Chip Mellor formerly worked as an attorney for MSLF. Mellor is the founder and co-chair of the Institute for Justice, the former president of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, and formerly served as deputy general counsel for legislation and regulations in the Department of Energy during the Reagan Administration. ²⁵

Clint Bolick formerly worked as an attorney for MSLF. As of 2023, Bolick serves as a Justice on the Arizona Supreme Court. Bolick formerly served as vice president of litigation for the Goldwater Institute, president and general counsel for the Alliance for School Choice, staff attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and special assistant for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Bolick co-founded the Institute for Justice. ²⁶

Board of Directors

Ernest (Ernie) Angelo, Jr. formerly served as a Republican Major of Midland, Texas and as the co-manager of the 1976 Texas presidential primary campaign for Ronald Reagan. ²⁷

Roy Brown formerly served as a Republican member of the Montana State Senate, where he served as Majority Whip; as a Republican member of the Montana State House of Representatives; and as a legislative representative for the Family Assets for Independence in Minnesota (FAIM) Statewide Advisory Council. ²⁸

Roy Cohee formerly served as a Republican member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, where he served as House Majority Floor Leader and Speaker of the House. ²⁹

John Gibson chairs the Keystone Corporation and sits on the executive committee of the Nevada Taxpayers Association. Gibson formerly served as the CEO and chair of the American Pacific Corporation. ³⁰

Dale Newton works as CEO and secretary/treasurer of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation.  ³¹

Don Shawcroft worked as the president of the Colorado Farm Bureau Federation until November 2020. ³²

Mark Trupp formerly was vice president of the Idaho Farm Bureau. ³³

Peter Wold serves as a senior partner of Wold Oil Properties and formerly served as the chair of the Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Commission (EORC) and on the board of the Independent Petroleum Association of Rocky Mountain States (IPAMS). ³⁴

Roger Bill Mitchell is an emeritus board member and formerly worked as president of the Colorado Farm Bureau. ³⁵

Mark Sexton is an emeritus board member of MSLF, the chair and CEO of Inflection Energy, a natural gas production company, and the chair of Energy Outreach Colorado and sits on the board of trustees of ACE (Alliance for Choice in Education). ³⁶