BOULDER, Colo. — A federal appeals court will decide if President Biden exceeded the scope of his power when he reinstated the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on Thursday in a pair of cases challenging the president's powers under the Antiquities Act to designate monuments. But attorneys representing both the state of Utah and the federal government faced some tough questions from the judges.
"Has any court ever found a presidential proclamation designating a national monument to be unlawful or beyond the scope of the president's power?" asked Judge Richard Federico.
"It has not," assistant Utah Solicitor General Stanford Purser replied.
"So what makes your case different that we should distinguish it from past cases where similar challenges have been raised?"
"Here we have a clear case of proclamations that exceed any reasonable interpretation of the Antiquities Act."
The state of Utah sued, challenging President Biden's decision to reinstate the boundaries back in 2021. Bears Ears National Monument was created by President Obama in 2016. A year later, President Trump shrunk the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
A federal court judge in Salt Lake Lake City threw out Utah's lawsuit, upholding the president's authority. The state of Utah appealed it to the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
During Thursday's arguments, Judge Joel Carson asked an attorney representing the Biden administration if the president could designate all federal land in Utah a monument.
"The question is whether there's a bonafide basis for the designation. And I think it's important to emphasize that Congress is very engaged here. Congress has not been an absentee," federal attorney John Bies said.
The Court took the case under advisement, but it is believed this litigation will go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We think the law is very clear that a president has to limit a monument to the smallest area compatible with the objects they’re trying to protect and once you’re designating areas that are millions of acres in size, there’s just nothing small about that," said Ben Barr, the executive director of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, which is a party in the case.
But Matthew Campbell, the deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund, another party to the case, told FOX 13 News that the law is clear.
"I think the Antiquities Act gives the president broad discretion to reserve federal land," he said. "We think the issues should be confirmed. The tribal nations have a lot of historic sites, within Bears Ears in particular. It’s a place they go to this day to pray, to have ceremony. So for those reasons, the president is correct."
