ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20113
No(s). 24-2251 (9th Cir. Aug 20, 2025)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the federal government in a lawsuit seeking to preclude the state of Alaska from interfering with federal efforts to ban gillnet fishing for non-rural subsistence users in the Kuskokwim River pursuant to a rural subsistence priority established under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). In 2021 and 2022, the manager of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge closed parts of the river to gillnet fishing, but provided exceptions for federally qualified rural subsistence users on specified days. Alaska's Department of Fish and Game then asserted authority over the entire river by purporting to authorize gillnet fishing by all subsistence users. The government sued the state, arguing it held reserved water rights to the stretch of river within the refuge based on precedent known as the Katie John trilogy, which held that "public lands" in Title I of ANILCA included navigable waters in which the United States held reserved water rights. Alaska countered that Katie John was irreconcilable with Sturgeon v. Frost, 587 U.S. 28 (2019), in which the Supreme Court declined to so interpret the term. A district court concluded Katie John was not irreconcilable with Sturgeon, and granted summary judgment for the government. The appellate court held that the decisions could be harmonized on the ground that the distinct context and statutory objective of Title VII of ANILCA called for an interpretation that included navigable waters where subsistence fishing has traditionally taken place. Moreover, Congress passed appropriations that signaled its approval of that interpretation for purposes of Title VII. The court affirmed summary judgment for the government.