Oct 22 (Reuters) - A federals appeal court on Friday questioned whether it had the power to override an act of Congress that gave Rio Tinto Ltd land in Arizona for its Resolution copper mine, which has been challenged by Native Americans.

"It'd be nice if Congress or someone would make more sense out of this," said U.S. Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon, as the court appeared likely to support the U.S. government plan to give Rio Tinto the land in Arizona.

Apache Stronghold, a group of Native Americans and conservationists, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to overturn a lower court's ruling https://www.reuters.com/business/us-judge-will-not-stop-land-transfer-rio-tinto-mine-arizona-2021-02-12 that allowed the government to give Rio the land. The appeals court's judges, who questioned the Apache Stronghold's attorneys, are expected to rule in the near future.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; additional reporting by Nathan Frandino and Carlos Barria; Editing by David Gregorio)