Enemies
Bartlet dresses down Vice-President Hoynes in a Cabinet meeting, and then CJ tries to stop Danny from reporting on it after the incident is leaked out. The staff is on the verge of getting a banking bill passed, when some Republican congressmen add a land-use rider that would allow strip-mining in Montana. Josh realizes that Bartlet, whom he earlier describes as a "bit of a nerd" for his vast knowledge of America's national park system, can use the Antiquities Act (1) to designate that Montana land so that it effectively is a national park. Toby and Sam look for their lost writing talent, and Sam gets obsessed with a birthday message that Leo orders him to write so that Sam cannot go out on a date with Leo's daughter Mallory.
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Antiquities Act (last updated December 30, 2001) (back to top)
The Antiquities Act of 1906 (16 U.S.C. s. 431-33) is a tool by which the President can quickly protect federal lands and resources by declaring "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" on such lands. Since 1906, presidents have proclaimed more than 100 national monuments totaling about 70 million acres. Some of these designations have been controversial; most recently, President Bill Clinton sparked controversy with his designations, including about 15 that he designated in his final days in office.
The law, which is also known as the National Monuments Act, was created to respond to concerns of theft from and destruction of archeological sites. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to use the authority in 1906 and he interpreted the law expansively, seeing "scientific interest" as including geological. He thus designated Devil's Tower in Wyoming as the first national monument and ultimately designated a total of 18 national monuments covering more than 1 million acres in nine states, including the Grand Canyon in 1908. Fourteen of the 18 presidents since 1906 (all but Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes) have proclaimed national monuments, including the Statue of Liberty and more than 50 million acres in Alaska.
Such designations can affect how the land is used and can limit existing or potential development of the land; most designations forbid future development but maintain current contracts. These limitations vary by monument and inspire much of the opposition to designations. Presidents have often explained their designations as a means to prevent commercial development such as mining, but imminent threat is not required under the law.
As for monument size, the law does require the president to designate areas "confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected." Critics have pointed to legislative history showing that the law's drafters contemplated landmarks to be no more than several hundred acres in size, but there is no formal requirement in the law and courts have generally deferred to the president's judgment in such cases. Courts also defer to the president's judgment in what counts as a permissible landmark, though critics say the law was originally designed just for specific objects and not for the conservation purposes for which it is now used most regularly.
Bill Clinton made 21 designations during his administration and sparked much controversy with them. His first designation was the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, which triggered several lawsuits and an unsuccessful effort to amend the Antiquities Act of 1906 to require the president to seek public participation before making any designation (H.R. 1487, 106th Congress).
In 2000, Clinton made four more designations (including the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, which specifically forbids future timber cutting but allows current contracts to be maintained) and expanded a previous designation. Shortly before leaving office, he designated a number of additional monuments, which the new Bush administration publicly considered reversing. Clinton did decline to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, saying that the area was sufficiently protected from oil drilling by federal law.
Other presidents have used designations to force legislative action in long-running land-use battles. In 1943, FDR designated Jackson Hole in order to protect the elk wildlife that were not in the nearby Yellowstone National Park. In 1978, Jimmy Carter designated 56 million acres of Alaskan land in order to force the passing of legislation preserving even more Alaskan land from oil interests. Congress responded to these actions by requiring the president to get Congressional approval before making any more designations in Wyoming (16 U.S.C. s 341a) or before making any designations of more than 5,000 acres in Alaska (16 U.S.C. s 3213).
Most national monuments are managed by the National Park Service, which was created in 1916 to manage federal lands then assigned to the U.S. Department of Interior, such as Yellowstone National Park which was created by federal legislation in 1872. Most of Clinton's designations (15 of 21) were on lands that were already under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and are still managed by the BLM.
Sources: Carol Hardy Vincent and Pamela Baldwin, RL30528: National Monuments and the Antiquities Act (Congressional Research Service, April 17, 2000). National Wildlife Federation (Q&A available here). Alfred Runte, National Parks: the American experience (University of Nebraska Press, 2d ed., 1987). Notes to 16 U.S.C. 431, available on-line via Findlaw.com.
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