ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20129
No(s). 4:22-cv-00059-DN-PK (D. Utah Aug 11, 2023) (Nuffer, J.)

A district court dismissed a challenge to President Biden's redesignation of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The state of Utah and two counties argued the president exceeded his authority under the Antiquities Act by enlarging the two monuments via proclamations, and that federal agencies were adversely affecting plaintiffs through BLM's interim memoranda addressing the proclamations. The president, federal agencies, tribes, and environmental groups moved to dismiss. The court found plaintiffs' claims were not reviewable because they were statutory, not constitutional, challenges; §702 of the APA did not waive the federal government's sovereign immunity; and the president's actions were not within the ultra vires exception to sovereign immunity. It further found BLM's memoranda were not reviewable because they were not "final agency actions." It dismissed the suit.