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Page Number: 4

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

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Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 21–1164 
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LARRY STEVEN WILKINS, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. 
UNITED STATES 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT 

[March 28, 2023]

 JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. 
Larry Steven Wilkins and Jane Stanton wanted quiet ti-
tles and a quiet road.  Wilkins and Stanton, the petitioners 
here, both live alongside Robbins Gulch Road in rural Mon-
tana.  The  United  States  has  permission,  called  an  ease-
ment, for use of the road, which the Government interprets
to include making the road available for public use.  Peti-
tioners allege that the road’s public use has intruded upon
their  private  lives,  with  strangers  trespassing,  stealing, 
and even shooting Wilkins’ cat. 

Petitioners sued over the scope of the easement under the
Quiet  Title  Act,  which  allows  challenges  to  the  United 
States’ rights in real property.  Invoking the Act’s 12-year
time  limit,  28  U. S. C.  §2409a(g),  the  Government  main-
tains  that  the  suit  is  jurisdictionally  barred.    Petitioners 
counter, and the Court holds, that §2409a(g) is a nonjuris-
dictional claims-processing rule. 

Robbins Gulch Road runs through about a mile of private 
property.  Petitioners  acquired  their  properties  along  the 

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