Utah's request to file a lawsuit direct to the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to gain 18.5 million acres of federal lands in their state was rejected Monday/BLM, Bob Wick

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied without elaboration Utah's request that it be allowed to file a lawsuit with the court challenging the federal government's ability to own land indefinitely.

In a single sentence the high court denied the state's request to argue that the federal government is unjustly denying the state the financial remuneration that could be gleaned from converting more than 18 million acres of lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to state-desired uses such as livestock grazing and energy and transportation needs. In their filing with the Supreme Court, Utah officials accused the federal government of hanging on to the land “in perpetuity” to ultimately make a profit from it. 

The high court was not persuaded, however, writing simply that "[T]he motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied."

Utah officials were bucking more than a century of legal rulings, and their state's own constitution, in approaching the Supreme Court with the request last summer. They maintained that the federal government made "express and implied promises" about future state jurisdiction over the lands when Utah entered the union. But the state's own constitution specifies that its residents "agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof" and that the United States rightly holds title to those lands.

“We’re grateful the Supreme Court swiftly rejected the State of Utah’s misguided land grab lawsuit. For more than 100 years, the Supreme Court has affirmed the power of the federal government to hold and manage public lands on behalf of all Americans,” Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said Monday morning. “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 Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance will continue our unwavering efforts to ensure every attempted land grab by Utah politicians fails.”

At The Wilderness Society, Alison Flint, the organization's senior legal director, added that “Utah’s case is massively flawed, and we’re pleased to see the court recognize that and leave 150 years’ worth of established public lands law firmly in place. The nation’s public lands are as popular as ever. People want these places conserved and managed responsibly--not sold off, privatized or despoiled. Today’s news is good for the stability, safety and sustainability for America’s public lands and the people who depend on them."

However, Flint said TWS expects Utah officials to continue the battle in another forum and that her organizaton would "stand ready to mount a robust defense to ensure our public lands are protected.” 

The state's lawsuit was steeped with the fervor of the "Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1980s that sought to have federal lands in the West given over to the states The poster child of the rebellion rose up on July 4, 1980, when several hundred people gathered in Moab, Utah, on the doorstep of both Canyonlands and Arches national parks, to celebrate the nation's birthday...and decry federal land-management policies. From atop a Caterpillar bulldozer, adorned with "Sagebrush Rebel" stickers and spouting a U.S. flag from its smokestack, county officials complained about federal land managers. After firing up the crowd, the politicians fired up the bulldozer and, while following the scant traces of an abandoned mining road, worked to scrape a path into a nearby Wilderness Study Area on BLM lands.

Utah politicians have been striving for decades to take control of BLM lands in their state. They maintain that the state could better manage places such as the San Rafael Swell, an 80-mile by 30-mile bulbous protuberance of rock in south-central Utah (top photo). It was ratcheted into place by geologic machinations some 60 million years ago and holds magnificent galleries of ancient rock art. Or like the Valley of the Gods that embraces rock spires and buttes beneath Cedar Mesa in the state's southeastern corner, or the White Wash Dunes south of the town of Green River with its stands of cottonwoods that sink their roots deep into the dunes to slake their thirst.

The Sagebrush Rebellion faded away after the election of President Ronald Reagan.

In seeking Supreme Court consideration of their case, Utah officials wanted the high court to overstep Congress's authority given by the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution to “dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”

Missing in the arguments from Utah's Congressional delegation and other supporters is why the Supreme Court should look the other way when it comes to the U.S. Constitution, the state constitution, and Congressional intent.

A supporting brief filed by Wyoming tried to take the matter even further, seeking state takeover of all federal lands — BLM's, as well as those managed by the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service.