Burlington City Attorney Eileen Blackwood released a report Thursday stating her legal opinion that the city has no way to bar the F-35 from basing at Burlington International Airport.
The report reviews a number of factors, including local, state and federal laws in addition to agreements between the city and federal governments.
But the city’s inability to act is defined at the very highest level, the report said. The city is unlikely to be able to block the F-35, the report states “because the U.S. Constitution appears to establish that the City has no authority to restrict or interfere with the military and national defense activities of the Air Force, acting through VTANG (Vermont Air National Guard.)”
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, whose office has not been especially vocal about the F-35, released a statement thanking Blackwood for her work.
“Her work clarifies the decision before the City Council and exposes the inaccuracy of many of the claims made by anti-F-35 leaders in recent months,” Weinberger added.
Above Weinberger, Gov. Peter Shumlin and the state’s entire Congressional delegation have firmly supported the basing of the F-35 at the airport despite a divided constituency.
City Councilors may now decide how to address the issue at a special meeting planned for Oct. 28. Two resolutions already drafted for that meeting – one to block the F-35 altogether and another to delay the basing – appear to have been made moot by the Blackwood report.
Blackwood is the city attorney, not a judge, so the legal opinion out of her office does not definitively mean the city can’t implement a ban. However, the clear language of the report – “In other words, the City cannot simply waive federal preemption and the limits in the U.S. Constitution.” – indicates such a ban, even if possible, would not be easy.
