Feds urge justices to reject marine monument challenge

摘要

In a twist on the norm, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to pass on a case that could overturn a marine monument created by former President Obama. Obama's decision to designate the 5,000-square-mile Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., was consistent with executive authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906, lawyers for the Trump administration argued in a Supreme Court brief docketed Friday. They also noted that President Trump has since lifted fishing restrictions in the monument, which the lawyers said nullifies claims by commercial lobstering groups that their businesses will be affected by the monument. "Because the ban on commercial fishing has been lifted, petitioners cannot establish a continuing injury or the imminence of a future injury necessary to support declaratory and injunctive relief," acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall wrote in the government's brief.