December 12, 2025 — The Trump administration is now siding with Alaskan Natives and opposing the state in a long-running fight about subsistence fishing rights and the high-stakes meaning of the phrase “public lands.”
In a legal brief filed Tuesday, Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the Supreme Court to disregard the state of Alaska’s appeal of a lower court’s decision upholding an expansive view of the Native fishing claims. Sauer’s brief cited the power of precedent, noting previous rejections of efforts to limit the subsistence fishing rights granted under a 1980 federal law.
“Given the length of time this interpretation has been in effect, and Congress’s continuing authority to modify the current framework if it chooses to do so, there is no sound reason for the court to revisit the status quo at this juncture,” the solicitor general’s brief stated.