U.S. Supreme Court

Last July, the Utah Supreme Court upheld Lovell’s murder conviction for killing Joyce Yost in 1985 but threw out the sentence.

Some believe lawmakers don’t see the need to codify it after the U.S. Supreme Court decided the federal ICWA was constitutional.

States that use the Colorado River say they don't want to go to the Supreme Court, but some are quietly preparing for litigation.

“Utah remains able and willing to challenge any BLM land management decisions that harm Utah,” state leadership said in a statement.

The high court on Monday refused to let the GOP-controlled state file a lawsuit seeking to bring the land and its resources under state control. The decision came in a brief order in which the court did not explain its reasoning, as is typical.

The constitutionality of released-time religious education was taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1952. But it wasn’t about Utah or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Utah believes it should have ownership over some federally managed land, but environmentalists argue the move backpedals on the agreement that made Utah a state.

Beyond getting a multi-million dollar project on track, backers of Utah’s Uinta Basin Railway also wanted to shrink the scope of federal environmental reviews.

The case is about more than Utah’s long-fought oil train project. It’s become a test case, with many interested parties, over the future of environmental review.

Despite bipartisan support, Utah’s initial version of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act failed to pass in 2023. Now, it’s returning for the 2025 legislative session.

Legal and historical experts say Utah will have to overcome centuries of precedent if the state is to be successful in claiming 18.5 million acres of land controlled by the federal government.

Fights over public lands aren’t unusual in the West. But Utah is now going straight to the U.S. Supreme Court to wrest control of 18.5 million acres of federal land.