#antiquitiesact — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #antiquitiesact, aggregated by home.social.
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The opinion cites #SCOTUS Chief Justice #JohnRoberts in his 2021 response to a denial of certiorari in Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Assn v. Raimondo that he’d be interested in hearing a challenge to the #AntiquitiesAct.
Roberts wrote that the act’s use has been “transformed into a power without any discernible limit to set aside vast & amorphous expanses of terrain,” & the court may have an opportunity to consider the issue in the future.
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“We conclude that the #AntiquitiesAct permits the President to alter a prior declaration of a national monument, including by finding that the ‘landmarks,’ ‘structures,’ or ‘objects’ identified in the prior declaration either never were or no longer are deserving of the Act’s protections,” the #DOJ opinion issued May 27 concludes.
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The slip opinion that was made public Tuesday reverses & disavows a 1938 #DOJ opinion, which the federal government has relied upon to determine that monument designations are irrevocable.
https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1403101/dl
It specifically challenges #Biden’s 2025 creation of #Chuckwalla & #SáttítlaHighlands #NationalMonuments in #California. Both received broad support from area tribes, the #state, & California’s congressional delegation.
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#Trump has been largely hostile to large #NationalMonuments & has taken steps to consider allowing #drilling & #mining companies to access minerals within them.
In his first term, Trump shrank Utah’s Bears Ears & Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, which were created by fmr #Democratic presidents Barack #Obama & Bill #Clinton. President Joe #Biden re-expanded those monuments. Both are now subject to litigation brought by Utah….
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#Trump #DOJ Outlines Legal Justification to Abolish Monuments
A US president’s power to create & undo #NationalMonuments under the 1906 #AntiquitiesAct is among the White House’s “most sweeping unilateral powers,” the DOJ said in a slip opinion.
The opinion forms the DOJ’s rationale for abolishing national monuments, many of which have been declared by presidents to protect large swaths of #PublicLand from development.
#law #PublicLands #conservation #drilling #mining
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/trump-doj-outlines-legal-justification-to-abolish-monuments-1 -
*#Conservatives* in Western states especially have long seen the president’s power to unilaterally set aside land as an example of federal overreach, w/many viewing it as a burdensome restriction on #mining & #drilling.
…During his confirmation hearing, Interior Secretary #DougBurgum said the #AntiquitiesAct is meant only for small, “Indiana Jones-type archeological” sites.🤦🏼♀️
#Trump #SacredLand #NationalMonuments #PublicLands #conservation #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalLaw #law
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Signed into #law by President Theodore Roosevelt, the #AntiquitiesAct of 1906 gives presidents vast powers to #protect #lands & #waters through the creation of #NationalMonuments. But the law is quiet on whether presidents can remove designations set by their predecessors.
The Bureau of Land Management administers ~17k square miles of national monuments in the West….#Trump #SacredLand #PublicLands #conservation #habitats #ecosystems #wildlife #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalLaw
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The push would spark an intense #legal fight over the right of a president to grant sweeping #lands #protections under the 1906 #AntiquitiesAct — & take them away. In his 1st term, #Trump became the 1st president in more than half a century to modify existing #NationalMonuments when he drastically shrank the boundaries of Utah’s Bears Ears & Grand Staircase-Escalante—only for Pres Joe #Biden🦸♂️to reverse the cuts.
#PublicLands #conservation #wildlife #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #Environment #law -
#Biden protects #wildlands near #Oregon border on his way out.
The #Sattitla National Monument, also known as the Medicine Lake Highlands, includes lands in the #Klamath, #Modoc and #Shasta - #Trinity national forests
In addition to Sattitla, Biden designated the 664,000-acre #Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California’s Colorado Desert near #JoshuaTree National Park.
https://ashland.news/biden-protects-wildlands-near-oregon-border/
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Full text and map of two new national monuments via the Federal Register:
Chuckwalla National Monument
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-17/pdf/2025-01441.pdf
Sáttítla Highlands National Monument
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-17/pdf/2025-01443.pdf
Both monuments were established under the authority of the Antiquities Act. Chuckwalla National Monument will be managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Sáttítla Highlands National Monument will be managed by the U.S. Forest Service #antiquitiesact #nationalmonument #publiclands #california #usfs #forestservice #geology #proclamation #federalregister #map #maps
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Chuckwalla National Monument and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument established via the Antiquities Act. Chuckwalla National Monument will be managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Sáttítla Highlands National Monument will be managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Learn more about the new national monuments at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/07/fact-sheet-president-biden-establishes-chuckwalla-and-sattitla-highlands-national-monuments-in-california/ and https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-haaland-celebrates-president-bidens-designation-chuckwalla-national and https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/01/07/usda-celebrates-president-bidens-sattitla-highlands-monument-designation and #antiquitiesact #nationalmonument #publiclands #california #blm #usfs #forestservice #geology #proclamation