New Wine in Old Bottles: Distorting the Antiquities Act to Aggrandize Executive Power
April 2018
Citation:
48
ELR 10300
Issue
4
President Donald Trump promised to undo much of the regulatory handiwork of his White House predecessors. On the heels of his inauguration, President Trump tasked Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to review national monument declarations of previous presidents issued under the Antiquities Act of 1906, and to recommend monument modifications or revocations. The plain meaning of the Antiquities Act, however, does not delegate legislative power to the president to revoke or to materially disturb prior presidential national monument declarations.