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The Supreme Court rejected two cases yesterday that could have curtailed the president’s power to establish new national monuments.
The two cases centered on President Obama's expansion of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The timber companies involved argued the expansion was a misuse of the Antiquities Act, because it blocked timber harvests that Congress required on some of the same lands. The cases also asked whether the Supreme Court could restrict the president’s ability to set aside existing public lands to protect natural, cultural, or scientific features.
Only Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch indicated interest in hearing the Cascade-Siskiyou cases. It takes the vote of four justices to decide to hear a case. Notably, Justice John Roberts did not vote to hear the case, despite indicating interest in curtailing the Antiquities Act in the past.
“Legal scholars have already weighed in to remind Chief Justice Roberts about the century of legal precedent that underlies the Antiquities Act,” Center for Western Priorities Deputy Director Aaron Weiss told E&E News. “Today’s decision adds yet another important case that a future court would have to toss out if it considers undermining one of America’s bedrock conservation laws.”
Judge rules on first oil and gas sale under Biden
A federal judge has upheld the first oil and gas lease sale held by the Biden administration, ruling that the government adequately considered environmental impacts from the 2022 sale. In a separate ruling regarding the sale, the same judge also ruled that the Bureau of Land Management underestimated the sale’s impacts to groundwater and wildlife in Wyoming. The judge ordered another round of briefings in the litigation before he rules on a remedy.
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I want to see thousands of buffalo and tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of acres protected for wildlife... What we do here on the reservation could set precedent for what buffalo restoration can look like.”
