Attorney General Jeff Landry Sued President Biden for Halting All Lease Sales on Public Land

BATON ROUGE, LA – Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s lawsuit against President Joe Biden and numerous federal government officials will have a court hearing on Thursday morning at the John M. Shaw United States Courthouse in Lafayette. Oral arguments on the motion for a preliminary injunction will be heard by Judge Terry Doughty beginning at 9:00 AM.

Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Baker Murrill, who was born in Lafayette and graduated from Lafayette High School, is leading a legal team on behalf of Louisiana and 12 other states who sued Biden for acting beyond the scope of his authority by directing federal government agencies to stop all lease sales on public land. They are expected to focus on the State’s entitlement to preserve the regular offshore lease sales and quarterly onshore lease sales that occurred before Biden took office.

Attorney General Landry has repeatedly said that Biden Officials cannot legally halt all lease sales because Congress, by statute, has commanded that such lease sales happen on a regular basis. He cited the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Mineral Leasing Act as explicitly prohibiting the Biden Ban.

The President declared in executive orders and his public statements that he intends to stop all new leasing for exploration and production on federal lands and on the Outer Continental Shelf. So while the Biden Administration has argued its actions are only a “temporary” pause, nothing suggests the government’s actions are temporary except that government says it is.

Attorney General Landry, who has taken a number of legal actions against the Biden Administration for its attack on American energy, also remarked on the Biden Ban’s devastating effect on Americans.

“Joe Biden is harming tens of thousands of American jobs using legal strategies that he knows will fail, all in an attempt to satisfy his political base. Furthermore, he is doing nothing to lower energy prices or relieve the pain at the pump which are hurting the poor and the middle class.”