SALT LAKE CITY — A judge has dismissed the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance's lawsuit against political leaders who are seeking to force the federal government to hand over millions of acres of public lands to the state.
In a ruling issued late Wednesday, 3rd District Court Judge Thaddeus May declared SUWA's lawsuit "moot" because there was no immediate lawsuit by the state to rule on. Last year, Utah launched a legal and public relations blitz to demand the federal government hand over millions of acres of "unappropriated" land in Utah. They filed a petition directly with the U.S. Supreme Court and launched TV ads and billboards to whip up public support for the effort.
But earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Utah's petition. The nation's top court allowed Utah to pursue the litigation with lower courts before returning to them through the appeals process.
SUWA, which had sued over the entire effort, had sought to have Judge May rule in their favor that Utah's efforts violated the state constitution which required Utah to give up certain lands to the federal government when it earned statehood.
During a hearing earlier this month, Judge May questioned if he could rule without an actual lawsuit by the state.
"Because the Supreme Court denied Defendants’ motion for leave to file a bill of complaint, there is no longer a concrete act Plaintiff seeks to stop. Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint thus asks this Court to speculate as Defendants’ future conduct. But the Court finds Defendants’ statements about any future action to be too vague to be redressable. The doctrine of ripeness impedes Plaintiff’s progress," Judge May wrote in his ruling.
“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,” said Steve Bloch, Legal Director for SUWA, 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."
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance told FOX 13 News it was evaluating its options about whether to appeal Judge May's decision.
"We are pleased the court has dismissed the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s lawsuit challenging the attorney general’s authority to question federal government retention of unappropiated public lands. Our office will continue to vigorously defend Utah and protect Utah’s public lands," Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said in a statement to FOX 13 News late Wednesday.
Read the judge's ruling here:
