Just hours after President Donald Trump announced his scaled-back vision for Bears Ears National Monument on Monday, a coalition of five American Indian tribes filed the first lawsuit of many promised to challenge the executive action.
“It’s a sad state of affairs when the president of this great nation shows manifest disregard for our history and culture as a people,” said Shaun Chapoose, a member of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee, “but we are prepared to fight for our rights and to protect Bears Ears.”
The courts have not weighed in on the matter since the Antiquities Act’s passage 111 years ago.