Amber Fayerberg Argues Before the Tenth Circuit in Defense of New Mexico's Wildlife Protection Law

Defending the Public's Right to Safe Lands — and the State's Right to Protect Them

On April 30, 2026, Fayerberg Dodd founding partner Amber Fayerberg argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in New Mexico Trappers Association v. Torres, No. 25-2117, defending New Mexico's Wildlife Conservation and Public Safety Act — known as Roxy's Law — against a constitutional challenge brought by three trapping associations seeking to overturn it.

What Roxy's Law Does

Enacted in 2021 and in effect since April 2022, Roxy's Law banned the use of traps, snares, and poisons on public lands in New Mexico. The law was named for a cattle dog strangled in a snare near Española. It reflects what the New Mexico Legislature determined: that public lands belong to all New Mexicans — hikers, families, hunters, and their pets — and that indiscriminate trapping is a practice that is not only cruel, but also incompatible with safe, shared use of those lands.

Photo of Roxy, who strangled to death in a snare set on public land by a trapper in 2018. (Photo of Roxy by Kathrina Clark)

The Challenge

Rather than attack the ban itself — which the trapping associations conceded they could not — plaintiffs instead targeted one of eight narrow exceptions in the law: an accommodation for enrolled members of federally recognized tribes trapping for religious or ceremonial purposes. New Mexico is home to 23 federally recognized tribes, pueblos, and nations whose presence and traditions on this land predate statehood by centuries. The exception reflects that history. Plaintiffs argued it nonetheless violated the Establishment Clause and the Equal Protection Clause.

The Argument

Ms. Fayerberg argued that the challenge failed at the threshold: Plaintiffs

no standing to bring it. Their real grievance was that their members can no longer trap on public lands — but that injury flows from the ban, not from the tribal accommodation they chose to challenge. Striking down the exception would not restore a single trapping license. She also argued the case was not ripe: no regulations implementing the exception have been promulgated, no one has trapped under it, and the court should not be asked to rule on a provision that has had no real-world effect.

What's at Stake

Roxy's Law represents a considered legislative judgment about how New Mexico's public lands should be shared and who they should be safe for. The Tenth Circuit has taken the matter under advisement. We will report on its decision when it issues.

You can listen to the full oral argument here.