Date Filed: May 1, 2025
Original Court: U.S. District for the Eastern District of Michigan
Case Status: Pending
In the waning days of his term, President Biden designated 624,000 acres of California desert as the Chuckwalla National Monument. This designation makes public lands less accessible for recreation, amateur mining, and other uses, creates more red tape, and prevents new roads from being opened.
Dan Torongo and his family have held claims for amateur mining in the Chuckwalla Mountains for four generations. The national monument designation increases regulations to maintain their claims and will prevent the Torongo Family from expanding their claims to nearby areas. The designation also affects the BlueRibbon Coalition’s members who drive, hike, and otherwise explore trails within Chuckwalla.
The Antiquities Act of 1906 allows U.S. presidents to designate certain “objects” as a national monument. Although Congress only intended for the Antiquities Act to apply to much smaller areas, recent presidents have used the Act to designate millions of acres at a time.
Due in part to its large scale, CAF attorneys argue that the designation of Chuckwalla National Monument violates the Antiquities Act, which requires national monument designations to be “confined to the smallest area compatible” for protection. Furthermore, if the designation of 624,000 acres is found to be “confined to the smallest area compatible” for protection, they argue the Antiquities Act’s limitations would be so meaningless that it would essentially delegate all of Congress’s Property Clause (Article IV, section 3, clause 2) power to the Executive in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Case Documents: