The Supreme Court is turning back a push by Utah to wrest control of vast areas of public land from the federal government.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Utah's bid to gain control over millions of acres of federal land, dealing a blow to the state's efforts to assert greater authority over its natural resources.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a lawsuit by Utah that argued the federal government was unconstitutionally holding onto vast, unreserved swathes of the Republican-led state's territory comprising more than a third of the land within its borders.