Elected leaders from Alaska to Arkansas are pressing the Supreme Court to take up a lawsuit filed by the state of Utah that seeks control over half the federal lands within its borders.
Federal and state lawmakers from more than a dozen states this week filed amicus briefs urging the nation’s highest court not only to agree to hear the case but to ultimately side with Utah.
The numerous friend of the court briefs, most filed Tuesday, include one by Utah Republican Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney as well as Utah’s four congressional members and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.). Similar briefs supporting Utah’s lawsuit were also filed by the Wyoming and Utah legislatures and numerous other states.
The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether it will hear the federal lawsuit filed in August by Utah, which claims that the U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to indefinitely hold the 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” Bureau of Land Management rangelands identified in the lawsuit. Utah says the state should be allowed to manage them.
