The U.S. Supreme Court this morning declined a petition from Utah lawmakers to consider whether federal lands are illegal and should be handed over to state management.
In a one-sentence order issued this morning, the high court rejected Utah’s petition that could have resulted in the largest transfer of land ownership in the nation’s history. Utah had asked the court to consider turning over 18.5 million acres of BLM land in Utah to the state, but most watchers understood that an affirmative ruling by the Supreme Court could lead to the transfer of some 640 million acres of federal land across the nation to state management.
“The motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied,” the court ruled, adding the Utah case to dozens that it declined to hear in its 2025 session.
The Court’s announcement came just two days after hundreds of advocates for public land rallied at Utah’s State Capitol.
“These [federal lands] are some of the most remarkable lands in the world and sometimes I think we take them for granted,” Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance told Salt Lake City’s Fox13Now, which reported the story of the Supreme Court’s order.
Bloch told the station that Utah’s lawsuit, which was funded by Utah taxpayer money and supported by legislative leaders along with Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Attorney General Sean Reyes, was the most dire threat to public-land management in over a century.
“If successful, Utah’s lawsuit would result in the sale of millions of acres of public lands in redrock country to the highest bidder, an end to America’s system of federal public lands, and the dismantling of the American West as we know it.”
The lawsuit, which proponents said was the result of “decades of legal analysis” asked the high court to consider its claim that BLM land in Utah was “unappropriated,” meaning that the U.S. government had no right to own or manage it and that the federal government should “dispose” of 18.5 million acres of land it manages in Utah, turning it over to state control.
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Today’s Supreme Court order doesn’t mean the issue is dead, only that the court “declined to exercise original jurisdiction,” says David Willms, associate vice president of public lands at the National Wildlife Federation. “Utah could refile this case in federal district court in Utah, and it could still wind up at the Supreme Court under normal order after going through district and circuit courts.”
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