Sturgeon v. Frost
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 26, 2019 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- March 26, 2019
- Term
- October Term 2018
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. This Court first encountered John Sturgeon's lawsuit three Terms ago. See Sturgeon v. Frost , 577 U. S. ----, 136 S.Ct. 1061, 194 L.Ed.2d 108 (2016) ( Sturgeon I ). As we explained then, Sturgeon hunted moose along the Nation River in Alaska for some 40 years. See id., at ----, 136 S.Ct., at 1064. He traveled by hovercraft, an amphibious vehicle able to glide over land and water alike. To reach his favorite hunting ground, he would pilot the craft over a stretch of the Nation River that flows through the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, a unit of the federal park system managed by the National Park Service. On one such trip, park rangers informed Sturgeon that a Park Service regulation prohibits the use of hovercrafts on rivers within any federal preserve or park. Sturgeon complied with their order to remove his hovercraft from the Yukon-Charley, thus "heading home without a moose." Id., at ----, 136 S.Ct., at 1067. But soon afterward, Sturgeon sued the Park Service, seeking an injunction that would allow him to resume using his hovercraft on his accustomed route. The lower courts denied him relief. This Court, though, thought there was more to be said. See id., at ---- - ----, 136 S.Ct., at 1071-1072. As we put the matter then, Sturgeon's case raises the issue how much "Alaska is different" from the rest of the…
Excerpt of a 79,907-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.