Updated June 24, 2026 05:16 pm
As the fight over America’s public lands escalates, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments are once again in the line of fire. On Tuesday, June 23, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that challenges to the boundaries of these monuments can continue.
It’s the latest development in a back-and-forth that has been ongoing since 2016, when President Obama officially established Bears Ears National Monument.
In the decade since, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante have become a political football. In 2017, President Trump reduced the Bears Ears limits by 85 percent. Then, in 2021, President Biden restored protections and expanded Bears Ears National Monument beyond its original scope. That move was challenged by the state of Utah, several of its counties, and mining stakeholders, who filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration as a result. The lawsuit alleges that the President overstepped his bounds and claims that the Antiquities Act clearly prohibits such a large expansion of a national monument.
A district judge dismissed the suit in August 2023. The plaintiffs appealed the case in October. Now, nearly three years later, the 10th District Court of Appeal has sent that case back to a lower court, opening the way for the challenge to continue.
‘It is a responsibility to protect the bear’s ears’
Both of these monuments are extremely important to the cultural, religious, and historical heritage of the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribe, who have lived in this area for generations. Bears Ears, in particular, is home to over 100,000 known archaeological and cultural sites.
Surrounded by red sandstone valleys and covered with juniper and piñon trees, they are also popular destinations for hikers and campers. These monuments span several wildlife areas that contain significant biodiversity. The Grand Staircase-Escalante alone is home to over 650 species of bees and 200 species of birds. If you’re lucky, you might spot a bear, mountain lion, desert bighorn sheep, or bobcat.
Carlton R., Lieutenant Governor of Zuni Pueblo. “Bears Ears sustains life. Bears Ears provides food, medicine, cultural objects and ceremonial sites,” Bowekati said in a 2022 statement when his tribe, along with the Navajo Nation, Hopi and Ute Mountain Ute tribes, intervened in a lawsuit against the Biden administration. The four tribal nations known as the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Alliance are represented by Native American Rights Fund (NARF).
“As sovereign nations and co-managers of Bears Ears National Monument, we have the right to intervene in these lawsuits,” Bovekati said. “As stewards and people of this land, we have a responsibility to protect Bears Ears.”
The ongoing fight over the Antiquities Act
The lawsuit against the Biden administration is based on an interpretation of the Antiquities Act of 1906, the same piece of legislation that allowed the construction of monuments in the first place. Enacted by Theodore Roosevelt, Section 2 of the Antiquities Act gives the President the authority to bypass Congress and declare an area of public lands a national monument to protect “historic sites, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historical or scientific interest.”
The issue at issue in the lawsuit is a section of the Antiquities Act that states that the boundaries of a national monument created by the President must be limited to “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be preserved.”
The plaintiffs claim that when Biden restored protections for both of these national monuments and expanded Bears Ears, he violated this section. District Judge David Nuffer dismissed the suit in 2023, ruling that the court did not have the authority to re-examine the president’s decision. The 10th Circuit Court overturned the dismissal this week. Now, the case has gone back to the lower court.
Robert Keeter, distinguished professor of law at the University of Utah, said backpacker in a 2024 interview that “Utah has been clear from the beginning that its objective was to get the Antiquities Act before the United States Supreme Court.”
If the case goes that far, it is unclear how the High Court will rule. Keeter said the court would similarly be challenged to specify an appropriate standard for defining the “smallest area relevant” for a national monument.
Still, he said, Chief Justice John Roberts had made it clear in a statement in an earlier case about the president’s authority under the Antiquities Act that he is “skeptical” about the president’s power to designate large monuments like Bears Ears.
Steve Bloch, Legal Director Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA)A non-profit organization deeply involved in the fight to protect Bears Ears was confident that the monuments would also be preserved.
“We expect the proceedings will return to federal district court, where the judge will consider whether the Biden proclamation was consistent with the Antiquities Act,” Bloch said. backpacker. “For more than 100 years, no court has ever overturned a president’s use of the act, and we fully expect that President Biden’s actions will be upheld and these national monuments will remain protected.”
