The Ute Indian Tribe has filed a lawsuit against the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) and several state officials, alleging interference in its attempt to purchase lands in eastern Utah that are part of its ancestral territory. The tribe claims its bid of nearly $47 million for the Tabby Mountain area was the highest legitimate offer, but it was rejected due to racial discrimination. In a lawsuit filed in 2023, the tribe accused House Speaker Mike Schultz and other officials of conspiring to prevent the sale of the land, which spans approximately 45 square miles and is favored by hunters. The lawsuit alleges that Schultz, while serving as House majority leader in 2019, threatened a trust lands employee not to sell the land to the tribe. This employee, Tim Donaldson, later filed a complaint suggesting the sale process was manipulated, and he was subsequently terminated from his position. An updated lawsuit filed in November 2023 names Schultz and over a dozen other state officials as defendants. It contends that Schultz collaborated with lawmakers and officials from SITLA and the Utah Department of Natural Resources to keep the land under state control and retaliate against the tribe. The 2024 state law allows the Department of Natural Resources to have preferential treatment in selling large blocks of school trust land. Its sponsor, Rep. Casey Snider, is also named in the lawsuit. Snider has stated that the law does not apply to the Tabby Mountain area and that Schultz had no involvement in drafting the measure. Schultz declined to comment on the ongoing lawsuit but stated that the narrative presented is inaccurate. The lawsuit further alleges a conspiracy involving the Department of Natural Resources to submit a bogus $50 million bid that it could not finance, followed by SITLA postponing the sale indefinitely due to appraisal issues. A spokesperson for the Utah Department of Natural Resources asserted that its bids were made in good faith and that the agency has been dismissed from the lawsuit. The Ute tribe is seeking a judge’s order to compel the sale of the land and invalidate the state law, as well as punitive damages to be determined at trial. The School and Institutional Trust Administration has previously stated that the claim of racial discrimination is unfounded and that it has broad discretion in managing public trust lands.