Utah sues Biden administration for control of federal lands

Utah questioned whether it is constitutional for the federal government to hold unappropriated land indefinitely as nearly three-quarters of the state’s land lies under bureaucratic control. 

Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) announced the lawsuit, which goes directly to the Supreme Court, during a press conference Tuesday. 

“The Federal Government controls 70% of the land in Utah,” Cox wrote in a post to X explaining why he’s suing the Biden administration. “The U.S. Constitution never intended a federal agency to hold onto so much land in any state – that’s why the state of Utah is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on this constitutional question we, and many western states, have had for years.”

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act empowers the Bureau of Land Management to control nearly 70% of Utah’s land. 

Cox says Utah doesn’t have any say over approximately 18.5 million acres of unappropriated land that “the U.S. government is simply holding, without formally reserving it for any designated purpose.” 

The Republican governor is frustrated that his state has lost “a significant measure of sovereignty” because of the government’s policy “enshrined in the FLPMA.” 

“It’s been a tragedy to see what this administration and past administrations have done to our land, closing down roads that have been open for generations. Places where people went to recreate, to spend time with their families, are no longer accessible,” he said.

The federal government owns roughly 47% of all land in the West, according to a 2016 analysis by the New York Times. 

Utah’s latest lawsuit follows the state’s June lawsuit against the Biden administration over the Bureau of Land Management’s new Public Lands Rule, which affects 23 million acres of public land in Utah.