Trump eyes rescission of national monuments under new Justice Department opinion
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has issued an opinion asserting that presidents may abolish or reduce national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act, potentially triggering U.S. Supreme Court review.
Jennifer Yachnin and Heather Richards report for E&E News.
In short:
- The OLC overruled a 1938 directive, arguing the Antiquities Act empowers the president to rescind designations “never were or no longer are deserving of the Act’s protections.”
- The White House is vetting six Democratic-era monuments — including Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Chuckwalla — for possible rollback to allow mineral extraction.
- Multiple tribes, environmental groups, and states have sued over President Trump’s 2017 reductions and Biden’s 2021 restorations, with challenges still active in lower courts.
Key quote:
“It’s quite obvious this opinion was done to try and justify something they plan to do going forward.”
— Mark Squillace, Raphael J. Moses professor of natural resources law at the University of Colorado Law School
Why this matters:
Protected public lands serve as vital reservoirs for biodiversity, clean water, and carbon storage, contributing to both ecosystem resilience and human well-being. Shrinking monument boundaries can open sensitive habitats to mining, drilling, and grazing, degrading watersheds that supply drinking water and disrupting wildlife corridors that buffer against disease and pollution. For Indigenous communities, these landscapes hold ancestral sites and ecological knowledge that support cultural identity and health. As climate change intensifies, preserving large, connected natural areas is essential not only for conservation but also for the environmental services — like clean air and flood mitigation — that sustain public health and economic stability.
Related: Trump gains legal support to eliminate or shrink national monuments
