Utah v. United States
Headline: Court enjoins the United States from claiming ownership of exposed Great Salt Lake shorelands and resources, clearing title for Utah while limited questions about some conveyed lands remain.
Holding:
- Blocks federal claims to specified Great Salt Lake shorelands and their natural resources.
- Allows Utah to keep those exposed shorelands without paying the United States.
- Leaves some quitclaim-conveyed meander-line lands for further hearings before the Special Master.
Summary
Background
The United States and the State of Utah disputed who owns the exposed shorelands and natural resources of the Great Salt Lake. A Special Master prepared a report and proposed decree. The Court heard the United States’ exceptions, overruled them, adopted the Special Master’s decree with a wording change about federal regulatory authority, and adjusted two factual figures as the parties agreed.
Reasoning
The central question was whether federal departments and agencies could assert rights, title, or interest in the exposed shorelands and the living or mineral resources there. The Court directed entry of the Special Master’s decree and enjoined the United States from asserting such claims for the shorelands lying between the lake edge on June 15, 1967, and the lake bed on January 4, 1896, except for lands in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the Weber Basin reclamation project. The decree also covers resources in or beneath those exposed shorelands and resources taken from them. The Court denied the United States’ request to have the Court declare federal ownership of the lands described in the 1966 Act.
Real world impact
Under the ruling, Utah is not required to pay the United States for the specified exposed shorelands or their minerals, and federal agencies are blocked from asserting ownership of those lands and resources. A remaining question about certain lands conveyed by quitclaim deed inside the lake’s meander line will be addressed by further hearings before the Special Master, so that narrow issue is not finally resolved.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Marshall took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
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