Donald Trump thought that by placing three Supreme Court justices on the Court, he could manipulate and control them. He was wrong. The Supreme Court is coming down hard on lawsuits that Trump wanted. The Court just declined to hear a case extremely important to national monuments, and thus, set a precedent. That could be most pivotal.
The case was about an area 130 miles off of the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, according to WBUR, Boston’s NPR station. President Barack Obama had designated it a national monument, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
World-renowned Marline life experts at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are also located at the same jump-off point in Cape Cod. In 2016, President Obama designated the monument to protect deep-sea environments and marine life.
As was Donald Trump’s purview and in his quest to overthrow everything that President Obama accomplished, 45 broken open the monument to commercial fishing in 2020.
If the Supreme Court had heard the case from the fishing industry and shut down the national monument, marine life advocates said that such an act could easily have threatened marine species in the Atlantic Ocean.
Conversely, the fishing industry welcomed Trump opening the monument. Fishing representatives indicated that this would generate millions of dollars for their industry.
That move was criticized by marine life advocates, while fishing groups said it would generate millions of dollars for their industry.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden wrote an executive order to review Trump’s decision.
Given the Supreme Court’s decision, President Biden may not need to pursue it any further.
Chief Justice John Roberts released a statement on Monday noting that there was an issue regarding the case. He wrote that the lawsuit did not “satisfy our usual criteria” for reviewing cases.
That meant that Justice Roberts upheld an earlier ruling to protect the monument and its marine life.
Justice Roberts pointed to a lower court’s finding. It said that “the fishing groups opposed to the monument designation” had not met the necessary criteria. There was not sufficient evidence to prove that it went beyond one of a president’s requirements:
‘[To designate the] smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected. To date, petitioners have not suggested what this critical statutory phrase means or what standard might guide our review of the President’s actions in this area.’
Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument consisted of 4,913 square miles. It included several mountains and canyons beneath the surface. The monument has. been populated by “whales, dolphins, turtles, swordfish, sharks, Atlantic puffins, and deep-sea coral.”
A paleontologist researching the Bears Ear National Monument, Rob Gay, found that Donald Trump had also cut the monument established by President Obama by 85 percent. endangering “fossils and cultural artifacts,” according to The Science Magazine.
Gay urged President Joe Biden to:
‘[R]everse Trump’s downsizing of Bear Ears—and even expand it. Doing so would not only restore stricter protections for numerous sites, but also free up federal funding for surveys, research, and preservation efforts.’
‘But although the Biden administration has hinted that it will reverse Trump’s order—and the decision could come soon—it faces some tricky decisions that could shape the political and policy landscape for monuments for years to come.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
