Utah filed its lawsuit against the United States government last August. The state argued that it is deprived of more than one-third of the land within its border, deeming the amount of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management “unconstitutional” and a federal policing of power.

At stake is control of public lands in Western states, and conservationists fear increased efforts to roll back protections under the next Trump administration.

The Salt Lake Tribune examines the shifting political landscape and its effect on Utah's Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante—an ongoing fight that an area business owner refers to as "living

Utah’s lawsuit against the federal government is a misguided effort rooted in flawed legal claims and shortsighted priorities,” writes Karen Crompton, a member of the Utah Citizens’ Counsel.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Utah's lawsuit that sought to make federal lands within its state borders illegal.

The filing, which state leaders said was the result of “decades of legal analysis,” targeted BLM land “unappropriated” to parks, monuments or other national sites. Utah argued the BLM’s ownership and oversight of that land harms the state’s ...

This breaking story has been updated. The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will not hear Utah’s sweeping public lands lawsuit, where the state argued it should take over 18.5 million acres of federally controlled land within its borders.

According to a brief Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, 9 million acres of Idaho land managed by the Bureau of Land Management could be affected.

A coalition of Utah Republicans has filed legislation invoking a 19th century mining law to block the Bureau of Land Management from implementing a series of travel management plans in the state that critics say emphasizes conservation over public access.

The Supreme Court is turning back a push by the state of Utah to wrest control of vast areas of public land from the federal government.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton created the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument with pen and paper at a table in neighboring Arizona. The designation came as a harsh surprise to Utah political leaders who asserted they were blindsided by the move.

Utah House Minority Leader Angela Romero, a Democrat, praised the Supreme Court's decision in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune as a "win for all Americans and the protection of our environment. Today's actions serve as an important reminder that our public lands should not be privatized or exploited for short-term benefits."