Trump Granted Power to Dismantle National Monuments

June 16th, 2025

Anya Gordeev

A newly released Justice Department legal opinion reveals that President Donald Trump has a new-found authority: the ability to abolish national monuments created by previous administrations. The future of preserved U.S. public land, including two of California’s most culturally significant monuments, Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands, is now at risk of being destroyed or diminished.

The legal opinion, dated on May 27 but released earlier this week on Tuesday, completely overturns a prior 80 year old Justice Department stance that national monuments established under the Antiquities Act of 1906 cannot be harmed by any future president. The 50 page opinion titled “Revocation of Prior Monument Designations,” argues that the power to create monuments should include the power to dismantle them.

“If the President can declare that his predecessor was wrong regarding the value of preserving one such object on a given parcel, there is nothing preventing him from declaring that his predecessor was wrong about all such objects,” wrote Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit. The Trump administration aims to prioritize fossil fuel development for the U.S. economy. Coal, minerals, and oil are prevalent on protected federal land, allowing the high monetary value of these resources to drive decisions that could cost these precious monuments.

But, these potential actions hold detrimental consequences. It allows President Trump and future Presidents to dismantle or shrink monuments. This includes the Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California and Sáttítla Highlands in the far north of California; a new addition established by former President Joe Biden in early 2025. Chuckwalla protects over 624,000 acres of desert wilderness, including sacred sites, rare wildlife, and geological landmarks like Alligator Rock and Painted Canyon. Additionally, Sáttítla Highlands makes up roughly 225,000 acres of ancestral land tied to the Pit River and Modoc peoples. Both monuments came with strong support from Native American tribes and conservationists, as they were a way to conserve history and wildlife.

Many individuals have condemned the recent ruling, warning it puts millions of acres of protected land at risk. “This opinion flies in the face of a century of interpretation of the Antiquities Act,” said Axie Navas of The Wilderness Society. “Americans overwhelmingly support our public lands and oppose seeing them dismantled or destroyed.”

Public lands should be places preserved for protecting Earth’s environment, sacred spaces for honoring Indigenous heritage, and safe havens for endangered species. If one president can now undo decades of protections with such ease, no national monument is safe. This puts the idea of permanent conservation at high risk. Protecting history, culture, and nature must always be valued over short term political and industrial agendas. The fate of Chuckwalla, Sáttítla Highlands, and other valued monuments are now caught between a debate over the use of public land: one side for preservation, and the other for extraction.