This is the third part of my series on the history of the Antiquities Act. parts 1 and 2 are linked below
part 1
http://www.dailykos.com/...
part 2
http://www.dailykos.com/...
This diary will focus on the period from 1920-1976 and will take us up to the Carter Administration. Its use of the Act will be covered in part 4- Carter, Alaska, and the War over the Antiquities Act.
After the Supreme Court upheld the Act in Cameron vs US, the presidents basically had a blank check to go to the Antiquities Act well as often as the president wished. from 1920-45, presidents created many more monuments: Harding created 8, including Bryce Canyon,Coolidge 13, including the Statue of Liberty, Hoover 9, including Death Valley, FDR created 11, and expanded a further 17. Congress has the ability to overturn Court rulings by either congressional legislation, or constitutional amendment, but Congress has not acted to overturn Cameron, and a Constitutional amendment banning new national monuments would never get anywhere close to the 2-3rds support in either house of Congress , to say nothing of the 38 states needed to put it into effect, or public or presidential support. an amendment that in essence codified the Act permanently into the Constitution, however, would very likely gain the support needed to become part of the Constitution.
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