The Supreme Court is turning back a push by Utah to wrest control of vast areas of public land from the federal government.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a lawsuit by Utah that argued the federal government was unconstitutionally holding onto vast, unreserved swathes of the Republican-led state's territory comprising more than a third of the land within its borders.

“We’re grateful the Supreme Court swiftly rejected the State of Utah’s misguided land grab lawsuit,” Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said in a statement. “For more than 100 years, the Supreme Court has affirmed the power of the federal government to hold and manage public lands on behalf of all Americans.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Utah's lawsuit seeking control of 18.5 million acres of federal land. Why it matters: State officials put on a costly campaign of TV ads and other marketing, to encourage SCOTUS to take up the case.

It took the U.S. Supreme Court 12 words and one period to dismiss more than 300 pages of legal arguments in which Utah, Wyoming and other Western states sought to

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Phil Lyman's challenge to the primary process used by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. Lyman said he will keep fighting.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a bid from the state of Utah to seize control of federally owned lands. The court denied the state’s petition, writing in a brief statement: “The motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied.

Utah filed its lawsuit against the United States government last August. The state argued that it is deprived of more than one-third of the land within its border, deeming the amount of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management “unconstitutional” and a federal policing of power.

The state in August filed a lawsuit asking the court to declare the federal Bureau of Land Management’s ownership of 18.5 million acres of land in Utah unconstitutional.

This breaking story has been updated. The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will not hear Utah’s sweeping public lands lawsuit, where the state argued it should take over 18.5 million acres of federally controlled land within its borders.