Supreme Court deaf to Utah complaint over federal lands

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not hear arguments in a dispute between the state of Utah and the federal government about unused federal lands. Utah sued the federal government in August 2024, saying that roughly a third of its state was federal land that the government was holding without any given purpose. Allowing the federal government to keep that land without using it for any purpose deprives Utah of important resources, the state argued.

Did the Supreme Court give any reason for not hearing the case? The high court in its one-line denial did not say anything about its reasoning for not hearing the case. In late August, Utah asked for leave to file a complaint against the federal government before the court. In late November, the federal government filed a response to Utah’s filing.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West and Christina Grube’s report in WORLD Magazine about the significance Utah’s lawsuit held before the court refused to hear it.