Virgin

We affirm the district court’s dismissal because of a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

*1142 Factual and Procedural Background

Edwin F. Virgin, Sr., Susan S. Virgin, and Edwin F. Virgin, Jr. own land in the County of San Luis Obispo because of federal land patents granted to their predecessors-in-interest. The Virgins appeal the district court’s dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction over their declaratory relief action against the county and others alleging that the county’s Subdivision Review Board improperly denied their application for a parcel lot line adjustment intended to create thirteen separate legal parcels out of the Virgins’ acreage. The Virgins argue that the district court erred because: (1) the general rule that a federal land patent does not confer federal question jurisdiction does not apply; (2) several Supreme Court precedents and/or the acts of Congress creating their federal patents provide exceptions to the general rule; and (3) the Supremacy Clause creates federal question jurisdiction.

The appellants claim ownership of about 1,240 acres in San Luis Obispo County. They allegedly own seven legal parcels created by patents issued to the…