June 23, 2026 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on Tenth Circuit Decision over long-running attack on National Monuments – 6.23.26
Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments remain protected following 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision
Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Denver, CO – Today, the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision on an appeal brought in August 2023 by the State of Utah, Blue Ribbon Coalition, and others challenging President Biden’s October 2021 use of the Antiquities Act to restore the boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. The Circuit Court’s decision did three principal things: (1) it reversed the district court’s dismissal of the underlying lawsuits brought by Utah and others, (2) it affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the Blue Ribbon Coalition and other individual plaintiffs, and (3) it remanded the case to the district court to consider whether President Biden’s 2021 orders were lawful. Below is a statement from SUWA Legal Director Steve Bloch and additional information.
“Today’s decision confirms a key point that the lower court previously got wrong: federal courts can hear challenges to a president’s use of the Antiquities Act to establish or diminish a national monument,” said Steve Bloch, Legal Director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “We are confident that President Biden’s restoration of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments – which this appeal sought to undermine – was within his powers under the Antiquities Act. His executive orders establishing the monuments protected irreplaceable cultural, biological and geological resources found nowhere else in the world. For over 100 years, no court has ever overturned a President’s use of this authority, and we fully expect President Biden’s actions will be upheld and these National Monuments will remain protected.”
Additional information:
In August 2022, the State of Utah, along with Garfield and Kane Counties, filed a lawsuit challenging President Biden’s lawful use of the Antiquities Act to restore the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in October 2021. The Blue Ribbon Coalition and several individuals filed a separate lawsuit which also challenged restoration of the monuments. Soon afterward, SUWA and a coalition of conservation organizations intervened in these lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. to defend the monuments; five sovereign Tribal Nations also intervened on behalf of the U.S. to defend Bears Ears National Monument. In August 2023, a federal court dismissed the lawsuit and these appeals followed; SUWA’s statement on the 2023 dismissal can be found here.
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.
