Articles

Welcome to power President Trump, now lawyer up

January 20, 2017 | By JAMES BURLING

If nothing else, it’s been a wild ride. Nobody here at PLF can remember a stranger election season. From June 16, when Donald Trump announced he was running for President, to the morning of November 8, few of us understood that history was about to smack us on the side of the head like an … ...

Articles

Is the ocean "land owned or controlled by the Federal government"?

March 07, 2017 | By JONATHAN WOOD

As President Obama’s final term came to a close, he engaged in what has unfortunately become a favorite pastime for lame duck Presidents: trying to build a legacy by abusing the Antiquities Act. President Obama was the Barry Bonds of this abuse, shattering his predecessors’ records. All told, he declared more than 550 million acres  ...

Articles

Weekly litigation report — March 11, 2017

March 11, 2017 | By JAMES BURLING

Going to sea to challenge a National Monument We filed this complaint challenging President Obama’s lame-duck designation of 5,000 square miles of ocean off the Massachusetts coast to be a new national monument under the Antiquities Act. We simply don’t think that an area in the ocean the size of Connecticut can qualify as a monument ...

Articles

Are all of Obama’s national monuments permanent? A new AEI paper says no

March 27, 2017 | By TODD GAZIANO

A few weeks before he left office, President Obama abused the Antiquities Act of 1906 again to proclaim 1.35 million acres in Utah and 300,000 acres in Nevada to be new national monuments. White House officials claimed that both monuments were “permanent” because there was no express authority to reverse them. … ...

Articles

Video : Presidential Authority to Revoke or Reduce National Monument Designations

March 31, 2017 | By KYLE GRIESINGER

This week, PLF’s Todd Gaziano and Professor John Yoo (who is also a new member of PLF’s Board of Trustees) released a new study that explains why President Trump has the authority to reduce or revoke national monuments. … ...

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In Northeast Canyons monument case, will President Trump follow the Secretary of Interior’s recommendation to lift illegal fishing prohibitions or will he defend his predecessor’s Antiquities Act abuse?

March 22, 2018 | By JONATHAN WOOD

The wheels of justice grind slowly. And sometimes they come to a complete halt. That’s what happened over the past year to fishermen challenging the illegal designation of a 5,000 square mile national monument in the Atlantic Ocean. The first anniversary of the filing of their case passed several weeks and they are still waiting … ...

Articles

If courts are ever going to strike down an illegal national monument, this’ll be it

May 22, 2018 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Often, it seems the federal government has it out for the English language. The President and federal agencies routinely twist the words in statutes beyond recognition. For instance, PLF has long challenged EPA’s bizarre claim that dry land is “water” under the Clean Water Act. The government’s no fan of consistency, so it s ...