Ninth Circuit strikes down Idaho stock water rules

A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel ruled unanimously that Idaho's stock water amendments violated the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, reversing part of a lower court decision that had upheld them. The rules required water-rights holders to prove livestock use or partner with an agent like a rancher to keep their rights, a condition the federal government, which owns over 60% of Idaho's land but no livestock, could never satisfy.

Judge Jennifer Sung wrote that despite appearing neutral, the rules were part of a scheme designed to strip the government of water rights affirmed in the earlier Snake River Basin Adjudication. The panel also upheld a separate ruling striking down a statute on transferring grazing permits and stock water rights.

The reversal undoes a 2024 ruling from U.S. District Judge David Nye, who had given the federal government five years to use its water productively or lose it.

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