WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — President Donald Trump may legally abolish national monuments created by his predecessors, including two recent California designations by former President Joe Biden, according to a newly released legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice. The opinion marks a dramatic reversal of a precedent in place for nearly 90 years and could reshape federal land protections nationwide.
The 50-page memorandum, dated May 27 and released Tuesday, was authored by Lanora Pettit, head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It argues that the Antiquities Act of 1906, which empowers presidents to establish national monuments to protect cultural, historic, or scientific sites, also implicitly gives them the authority to revoke such designations.
“The power to declare carries with it the power to revoke,” Pettit wrote, disavowing a 1938 opinion by then-Attorney General Homer Cummings that had long been cited as preventing presidents from rescinding monument status once granted. This legal interpretation paves the way for Trump, should he return to the White House, to dismantle or dramatically alter monuments designated by Biden and other Democratic presidents.
The White House requested the opinion as Trump weighs whether to rescind Biden’s January 2025 designation of two monuments in California: the Chuckwalla National Monument, spanning more than 624,000 acres near Joshua Tree National Park, and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, which encompasses 224,000 acres of volcanic and tribal lands in Northern California.
Biden invoked the Antiquities Act in his final days in office to create both monuments, citing their natural beauty and cultural significance to Native American tribes. The Chuckwalla site is home to rare desert species and features like Painted Canyon and Alligator Rock. The Sáttítla Highlands preserve the ancestral lands of the Pit River Tribe and Modoc Peoples.
While past presidents have reduced the size of national monuments — including Trump, who in 2017 slashed Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments — none has ever abolished one outright. Biden later reversed those reductions upon taking office.
Critics say the Trump administration’s new opinion undermines longstanding conservation efforts. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the Senate Natural Resources Committee, accused the Justice Department of attempting to “clear a path to erase national monuments.”
Pettit’s opinion argues that Biden’s designations reflect more of a recreational vision than the scientific or historical intent required under the Antiquities Act. She criticized Biden’s focus on hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities, calling them “wholly unrelated to (if not outright incompatible with) the protection of scientific or historical monuments.”
Environmental groups pushed back quickly. “This opinion doesn’t give Trump the legal authority to dismantle monuments at will,” said Axie Navas of The Wilderness Society. “Americans overwhelmingly support our public lands and oppose seeing them dismantled or destroyed.”
National monuments often serve as the first step toward national park status. About half of all U.S. national parks — including iconic sites like the Grand Canyon and Arches — were initially protected as monuments. Since 1912, at least 14 presidential proclamations have reduced monument boundaries, though none have revoked them altogether.
The legal debate over presidential power under the Antiquities Act remains unresolved. Trump’s 2017 cuts to Utah’s monuments were challenged in court by tribal and environmental groups. The case remains pending even after Biden restored the sites.
As the Interior Department continues its review of land protections, the new opinion could reignite legal battles over executive authority and the future of public lands.
