Alliance for a Better Utah released a petition asking Utahns to join in urging Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes to stop pursuing an estimated $14 million lawsuit against the federal government seeking to take away America’s public lands.
Better Utah released the petition in response to last week’s news that the Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG) voted 11-1 to adopt a report highly critical of the constitutional arguments advanced by the out-of-state law firm hired by the Utah Legislature to lay the foundation for this lawsuit. Attorney General Reyes was reportedly absent during the CWAG vote to adopt the report, and his office has confirmed that they are still reviewing the matter.
Rachel Sanders, Better Utah’s executive director, issued the following statement:
“For years, the Utah Legislature, the Attorney General and the Governor have been fascinated by the legally and fiscally irresponsible notion of suing the Federal Government to take over America’s public lands within Utah’s borders. Following the caution of the Legislature’s own legislative counsel, the Conference of Western Attorneys General, a majority of whom are Republican, added their heavy dose of skepticism over the constitutionality of such an objective. Better Utah is calling on the Legislature to place a stay on all work being done by out-of-state New Orleans law hired to pursue this action and calls on Attorney General Reyes to join the wisdom of his fellow Attorneys General and to drop this effort. We encourage all Utahns to join together in asking Attorney General Reyes to uphold his Constitutional duties rather than continuing to pursue the partisan politics of this fiscally irresponsible folly.”
