League of Conservation Voters v. Trump

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the judgment of an Alaska federal district court that held that President Trump exceeded presidential authority granted by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act when he issued an executive order revoking President Obama’s withdrawals of certain areas in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans from oil and gas leasing. The Ninth Circuit agreed with the parties that President Biden’s revocation of President Trump’s executive order rendered the case moot. The Ninth Circuit directed the district court to dismiss the case without prejudice.

In its opening brief, Alaska argued that the district court erred in determining that President Trump lacked authority, contending that the district court’s interpretation “distorts the meaning of the withdrawal provision of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and effectively allows a single president to nullify the Act and vitiate the Act’s promises for the State of Alaska.”

The American Petroleum Institute's opening brief argued for a reading of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that gives the president “broad discretion over withdrawals,” including authority to modify previous exercises of that discretionary authority.

The federal government, State of Alaska, and American Petroleum Institute filed briefs urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the District of Alaska’s decision vacating President Trump’s revocation of President Obama’s withdrawals of areas in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans from oil and gas leasing. The federal brief argued that the plaintiffs had not satisfied threshold requirements for their suit, including standing, ripeness, a waiver of sovereign immunity, and the existence of a congressionally created cause of action. The federal brief also argued that the district court erred in concluding that President Trump’s action exceeded his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which provides that the president “may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the outer Continental Shelf.”