Judge dismisses SUWA lawsuit that attempted to stop Utah from suing federal government for public land

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Utah judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) against the state of Utah, which argued that Utah gave up any opportunity for ownership of now federally controlled public lands when it became a state.

In August of 2024, Utah leaders filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the ownership of public lands in the state. Governor Spencer Cox stated that the federal government controls nearly 70% of Utah’s lands, and he argued that Utah should be in control of its own public lands. The complaint was a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

In December of 2024, SUWA filed a lawsuit against the Governor Cox and the Attorney General, then AG Sean Reyes, now AG Derek Brown. They argued that the lawsuit the state filed was unconstitutional because Utah gave up its access to those lands when it became a state, citing Article III of the Utah State Constitution.

Those arguments were heard in a court hearing last week, where attorneys for SUWA argued that Utah lost its ability to file a lawsuit against the federal government for control of lands when it became a state, and that the language of the constitution was binding when it said that Utah forever gave up those lands.

The people inhabiting this State do affirm and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries hereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes, and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the United States.
Utah Constitution Article III

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Utah Assistant Attorney General Lance Sorenson argued that the United States can sell public lands if it wants to. Additionally, he argued that the state court should not be ruling on a hypothetical federal case.

The judge granted Utah’s request to dismiss the case, ruling that SUWA cannot file a lawsuit to try to stop Utah from suing the federal government when Utah does not have an active suit against the federal government at this time.

“It was dismissed because it was a silly lawsuit, and frankly, it was trying to stop me from filing a lawsuit on behalf of the state, but as Attorney General, that’s something that I have the right to do, and so what we’re doing now is looking at our options, looking–everything is on the table, because public lands is incredibly important,” Attorney General Derek Brown said in an interview with ABC4.com.

AG Brown said that public lands are our future and that the state needs to figure out how best to protect them, and because of that, he is in conversations to decide what to do.

Filing another federal suit is still on the table, AG Brown said, but he did not indicate any intention in any direction at this time.

“We never file lawsuits on a whim,” AG Brown said. “We always do all of our background, our research– I mean, I really want to make sure that all the I’s are dotted and all the T’s are crossed before we do anything.”

“We’re disappointed with today’s decision but grateful that the true intent of the state’s lawsuit has been made clear: to force the sale of millions of acres of public lands to the highest bidder and not to acquire these lands for the state, as its deliberately misleading media campaign suggests,” Steve Bloch, Legal Director for SUWA said in a statement.

“It’s our position that with the repeated statements made by Governor Cox – doubling down on the state’s intent to refile its lawsuit in federal district court – Judge May had what he needed to proceed with our case and conclude that Utah’s constitution prohibits the state from bringing a lawsuit like this in the first place. We’ll review today’s decision and consider potential next steps,” Bloch continued.