Supreme Court leaves federal subsistence authority intact

The U.S. Supreme Court has officially ended United States v. Alaska, declining to hear the state's challenge to federal subsistence protections and leaving intact federal authority over subsistence hunting and fishing on federal lands and certain navigable waters across Alaska.

The Court's January 12 denial of Alaska's petition for certiorari in Alaska et al. v. United States et al. preserves the Ninth Circuit's August 2025 ruling that upheld federal management of subsistence fisheries on the Kuskokwim River within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The Supreme Court's order noted that Chief Justice John Roberts took no part in the consideration or decision of the petition. The decision affects Alaska Native and rural communities statewide who rely on subsistence harvest for food security and cultural practice.

The permanent injunction bars Alaska from issuing or enforcing fishing orders on the Kuskokwim River that conflict with federal subsistence openings, a framework that now applies to federal lands and qualifying waters across the state. The Ninth Circuit's ruling reaffirmed that the Katie John Trilogy remains binding precedent, confirming federal authority to manage subsistence uses on certain navigable waters in Alaska under Title VIII of ANILCA.