The majority opinion was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. He summarized the judgement, "The lands that the trail crosses are still 'federal lands' and the Forest Service may grant a pipeline right of way through them — just as it granted a right of way for the trail. Sometimes a complicated regulatory scheme may cause us to miss the forest for the trees. But at bottom, these cases boil down to a simple proposition: A trail is a trail, and land is land."
