Today marks the 110th anniversary of the passing of the American Antiquities Act of 1906, which grants the president the power to create national monuments by decree. The first monument -Devils Tower in Wyoming- was created in September 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, and since then more than 100 monuments have been created by the presidents. The law has survived numerous court challenges, a serious repeal attempt by Congress in the 1970s, and more or less remains the same as it was when passed in 1906. Congress limited presidential powers under the Act in Wyoming in 1950 and in Alaska in 1980, actions that I believe are unconstitutional violations of the separation of powers - the courts have clearly said in rulings on monuments, that monuments are solely the presidents call, and that includes location, size and number. Congress can repeal or defund monuments, but that’s it as far as recourse.
Restoring full presidential power in those states will require either Congress passing legislation to do so or the courts tossing the limits as part of upholding monuments created in Alaska and Wyoming by Obama or his successor. The fines and penalties under the Act do need to be updated and increased, currently violations are misdemeanors and carry a fine of 500 dollars and 90 days in prison. There should be 2 categories of violations- major and minor. Minor violations should retain the original sanctions, but major violations- such as spray painting prom invites on cliffs or deliberately damaging Indian ruins- should be felonies, with maximum prison time of 10 years per charge and fines of 100000 dollars per violation.
the reason why the Act is more important than ever today, is because of the continuing risk posed to our public lands by development and continued looting, and the utter inability of Congress to do anything about it in a timely manner. 21 states and 2 territories -Puerto Rico and Guam- have no monuments at all, and I believe every state should have at least 5 monuments each and each territory should have at least 2. there are at least 500 areas in this country worthy of monument status, ranging from the Hollywood Sign, to the Maine North Woods, from Greater Everglades to Bristol Bay, and at the rate Congress sets monuments aside it will be 3016 before they are all set aside, if not later than that. President Obama, to his credit, has used the Act more than anyone in history save for FDR, and the chances of him breaking FDRs record is strong, he needs to use the Act 6 more times to pass FDR’s 28 uses, Obama currently has 23 uses to his credit (21 new, and 2 expansions), with Stonewall Inn, Maine North Woods and Bears Ears likely to be designated this year, and Bristol Bay, San Rafeal Swell, and La Bajada Mesa, among others, proposed for monument status, he almost certainly will become the most prolific monument creator in history.
Hillary, should she become President, will likely be another strong defender of the Antiquities Act, as Bill Clinton was. I expect her to create at least 20 monuments, if not more. over her 8 years in office. the Act is a power just about all presidents have turned to during their tenure,regardless of party, and its a power that should be made explicitly permanent, universal and irrevocable by a Democratic Congress, in order to ensure that our public lands can be protected quickly no matter who sits in the Oval Office, or whether Congress does its job or not. this day, June 8th, should be called National Monuments Day, and every June 8th, the president should designate 2-3 new areas as monuments to mark the occasion, and to remind the country of the value of protecting public lands for the future. the Antiquities Act is older than the states of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii, and is one of the oldest laws on the books that is still effective and does its job.