The trespassing litigation is based on property rights and federal overreach, both touchstones of conservatism, said Deborah Sivas, a professor at Stanford Law School. State officials say permission to use the pipeline on state land expired in 2016, which Sable disputes.

“It’s not out in the ocean, in federal waters. This is actually on state property. We have a say on that — you can’t just override that,” Sivas said.

Sivas believes the administration’s expansion of the 1950 law is aimed at ushering in its five-year plan to give the oil industry access to new offshore areas. Courts have been leery to second-guess an emergency order from the federal government, especially amid a war, she said.

“This broad expansion of the act, where they’re saying we’re just going to preempt all of state law, we’re going to use it to just crush state law and order what we want going forward — it’s anxiety producing,” Sivas said.