Utah Makes High Stakes Gamble in Supreme Court Federal Land Case

Utah’s move to legally take over a South Carolina-sized region of mountains, canyons, oil and gas leases, and wildlife habitat from the federal government could upend federal land ownership across the West.

The state’s gambit to declare 18.5 million acres of federal land unconstitutional is unlikely to succeed, but if the US Supreme Court takes the case filed Tuesday and the state wins, it stands to set off an epic battle over a possible mass transfer or sale of federal land and minerals that could spread across 14 states and beyond.

The state is effectively asking the justices to declare ...