Article 1 section 8:
[Congress has the power]
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Building
Article 4, Section 3 Clause 2,
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Amendment X The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The Federal Government doesn't have any right to just grab land. Once a state becomes a state the land in that state belongs to the people of the state. The Federal Government can purchase from the state a parcel of land for particular purposes like Army or Navy bases. Congress is charged with maintaining an Army and Navy and it is reasonable for them to need bases.
Article 4, section 3, clause 2 seems to give the Federal government unlimited ability to take control of any land that they want but that seems arbitrary to Article 1 section 8 and the 10th amendment.
So how do you reconcile it? You have to look at the intentions of the founders. The best source for that is the Federalist Papers and the Convention Debates keeping in mind that the Constitution was seen as creating a stronger more powerful Federal Government as opposed to what they had with the limited power granted by the Articles of Confederation. It was recognized that the A of C were not good enough, that we needed something more. Sure some were fine with the limited power but the debates began anyway and they agreed on something better in the end. The one theme that is consistent is that the founders were always in favor of the States and the people having control except where it was absolutely necessary for the Federal Government to have control.(such as coining money, raising armies etc...) In other words the founders were primarily interested in limited government and diffusing federal authority over the states for the protection of individual liberty.
Madison writes in Federalist Paper 45 “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined… The [federal powers] will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce… the powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.”
Does Bundy have a point? Maybe so. Is he the first person to resort to civil disobedience to make that point? Absolutely not. From the Boston Tea Party and Whiskey Rebellion to Civil Rights, Abortion, Occupy movements and 420 Smoke-ins we have a history of making statements, and affecting changes, with acts of civil disobedience.
I for one have a huge objection to the BLM having the ability to bring the kind of firepower that they did. Is there anyone here that can justify that? Does it not concern you that a Federal Bureaucratic Agency can just bring an army of guys to your doorstep like that? I mean think about that for a minute. The fact that they have that ability in the first place is disturbing yet we don't even debate that. We've just come to accept it.
Is that consistent with "the powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.” ?
Who else has that kind of firepower? The IRS? The FAA? If I want to start a radio station and spew anti government propaganda is the FCC going to show up with 200 men in full body armor and automatic weapons to shut me down? What about the EPA when I choose not to pay the carbon tax they impose on the air I breath?