Three Administrations, No Legal Resolution: Monument Wars Suggest Presidential Power Trumps Law

Trump cut 1.15 million acres from Bears Ears and 860,000 from Grand Staircase-Escalante on July 13, reversing Biden-era restorations. This is the third consecutive administration to reshape the same monuments in opposite directions—Trump cut them in 2017, Biden restored them, Trump cut again now—without courts ever definitively ruling whether presidents can reduce monuments at all. The pattern suggests which party holds power matters more than the Antiquities Act's silent text.