16 U.S.C. § 3117
Section 3117 · Judicial enforcement
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case Marek v. Chesny (1985)
Most recently applied in Alaska v. Federal Subsistence Board (September 2008)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Local residents and other persons and organizations aggrieved by a failure of the State or the Federal Government to provide for the priority for subsistence uses set forth in section 3114 of this title (or with respect to the State as set forth in a State law of general applicability if the State has fulfilled the requirements of section 3115(d) of this title) may, upon exhaustion of any State of Federal (as appropriate) administrative remedies which may be available, file a civil action in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska to require such actions to be taken as are necessary to provide for the priority. In a civil action filed against the State, the Secretary may be joined as a party to such action. The court may grant preliminary injunctive relief in any civil action if the granting of such relief is appropriate under the facts upon which the action is based. No order granting preliminary relief shall be issued until after an opportunity for hearing. In a civil action filed against the State, the court shall provide relief, other than preliminary relief, by directing the State to submit regulations which satisfy the requirements of section 3114 of this title; when approved by the court, such regulations shall be incorporated as part of the final judicial order, and such order shall be valid only for such period of time as normally provided by State law for the regulations at issued. Local residents and other persons and organizations who are prevailing parties in an action filed pursuant to this section shall be awarded their costs and attorney's fees.
State agency actions may be declared invalid by the court only if they are arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. When reviewing any action within the specialized knowledge of a State agency, the court shall give the decision of the State agency the same deference it would give the same decision of a comparable Federal agency.
This section is the sole Federal judicial remedy created by this subchapter for local residents and other residents who, and organizations which, are aggrieved by a failure of the State to provide for the priority of subsistence uses set forth in section 3114 of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendment of Section
For repeal of amendment by section 316(d) of Pub. L. 105–83, see Effective and Termination Dates of 1997 Amendment note below.
Amendments
1997—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 105–83 added subsec. (b). See Effective and Termination Dates of 1997 Amendments note below.
1984—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–620 struck out subsec. (b) which had provided that a civil action filed pursuant to this section was to be assigned for hearing at the earliest possible date, was to take precedence over other matters pending on the docket of the United States district court at that time, and was to be expedited in every way by such court and any appellate court.
Effective and Termination Dates of 1997 Amendment
Until laws are adopted in Alaska which provide for definition, preference, and participation specified in sections 3113 to 3115 of this title, amendment by Pub. L. 105–83 effective only for purpose of determining whether State's laws provide for such definition, preference, and participation, and such amendment repealed on Dec. 1, 1998, if Secretary has not certified that such laws have been adopted in Alaska by such date, see section 316(d) of Pub. L. 105–83 set out as a note under section 3102 of this title.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–620 not applicable to cases pending on Nov. 8, 1984, see section 403 of Pub. L. 98–620, set out as an Effective Date note under section 1657 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.