( December 15, 2023, 1:25 PM EST) -- BISMARCK, N.D. — The discretionary function exception of the Federal Torts Claim Act (FTCA) is not available to the United States for claims brought by North Dakota that it negligently caused damages by allowing protestors of the Dakota Access pipeline to illegally occupy federal land because the government had a mandatory duty to issue a special use permit under the circumstances, a North Dakota federal judge found in granting North Dakota’s motion for partial summary judgment....