John v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
247 F.3d 1032 (9th Cir. 2001)
After Alaska's own subsistence-priority preferences were struck down under the state constitution, the Secretary of the Interior (defendant) took over implementing ANILCA's subsistence priority and adopted a narrow definition of "public lands" excluding navigable waters. Katie John and other Ahtna Athabaskan Indians (plaintiffs) sued, arguing all navigable waters were public lands under the navigational servitude doctrine, and the district court agreed; the United States sought interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
Whether, under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, public lands include all navigable waters in which the United States has reserved water rights.