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Our lawsuit challenging President Trump’s executive order dismembering Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has been slowly working its way through Washington D.C. federal district court since it was filed on December 4, 2017. We are happy to report that we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge in charge of the case, decided early in 2020 that she would decide the case on the basis of summary judgment motions filed by each party, asking for a decision in their respective favor(s) as a matter of law. Those motions have all been filed, and the final phase of written briefing (the submission of argument and legal authorities) by all the parties to the case will be completed by late May.
The next procedural step, which the court can allow or deny, will be oral arguments to the court, which would likely be scheduled during the summer. At that point, the court will be in a position to issue her decision deciding the issue-in-chief; whether President Trump has legal authority under the Antiquities Act to radically shrink GSENM and Bears Ears National Monument.
