Arizona lawmakers sued the Biden Administration earlier this year for protecting about a million acres of what used to be Native American land around the Grand Canyon.
Native tribes, who consider the area their ancestral home, are now joining the federal government to fight back.
The Arizona Legislature, which supposedly supports opening more uranium mines in the area now protected by the federal governmentmaintains that what the president did harms the economic development of the state and amounts to an “illegal land grab.”
President Joe Biden signed a proclamation last August creating a national monument called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, known in English as the Grand Canyon Ancestral Footprints National Monument.
At issue is the authority through which Biden protected indigenous lands: the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gives the president the power to preserve unique natural and historical features across the country.
A section of the Grand Canyon. The lands around the canyon are now a federally protected monument honoring the tribes who lived there before they were forcibly removed during westward expansion.
President Biden is seen on August 8, 2023, signing the proclamation that declared 1 million acres of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni a national monument.
This act was used to create the Statue of Liberty, Colorado’s Canyon of the Ancients, among other things.
According to the state’s lawsuit, the Antiquities Law simply does not apply to this gigantic parcel of land, which could be used “for the extraction of important natural resources, such as uranium.”
They claim the mineral-rich native land could “financially benefit Arizona state and local governments and schools.”
“The Proclamation ignores all of that,” the lawsuit continues. ‘Congress passed the Antiquities Act to protect just that: antiquities. He did not pass the law that allows the Biden Administration to declare every inch of federal land as federal forest, isolated from all but those it selects.’
Kim Quintero, speaker of the Arizona Legislature, also argued that Congress is supposed to pass laws to protect federal lands.
“Under the Constitution, Congress is the branch of government that decides how federal lands are used,” Quintero said. “They are not presidential edicts.”
The three tribes whose ancestral lands overlap with more than a million acres of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – the Hopi, Havasupai and Navajo Nation – recently filed a motion to dismiss the Arizona Legislature’s lawsuit in the District Court of Arizona.
At left, Kim Quintero is spokesperson for the Arizona Legislature, which sued the Biden Administration over its decision to protect 1 million acres of land that could be used for economic development. Right, Matthew Campbell serves as legal counsel for the Havasupai Tribe and the Hopi Tribe.
Pictured: The interior of the Arizona State Capitol building in Phoenix, where the legislature meets.
The tribes point out that although they want the same outcome as the accused President Biden, the US government cannot adequately represent them.
This is especially the case since former President Donald Trump, who had reduced protections for national monuments during his termHe has the possibility of returning to the White House in January 2025.
“When you think about Baaj Nwaanjo I’tah Kukveni and the creation of this monument, it is an immensely important place for tribal nations,” said Matthew Campbell, a member of the Gambell Native Village in Alaska and legal counsel for the Havasupai. Tribe and the Hopi tribe.
“The tribes fought very hard for the creation of the monument and are here to defend it.”
Grist reports that indigenous people within the protected area still live on the land and use it for hunting and prayer.
Havasupai Tribal Chairwoman Bernadine Jones, who was sworn in as her tribe’s leader in December 2023, says her people’I have never left the Grand Canyon..’
Bernadine Jones, pictured left, is sworn in as the new chairwoman of the Havasupai Tribe. She is a key figure among other tribal leaders fighting to preserve her ancestral lands.
The Grand Canyon photographed during the day. The ancestral lands around them that are now federally protected will be tied up in the courts possibly for years to come.
‘We’re still here. It’s our home. It’s our culture. It is our source of life and existence. We are committed to protecting you. “Establishing protections for Baaj Nwaavjo was an important and long-sought step,” Jones said.
Nine conservation organizations, including Grand Canyon Trust, Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club, have also pledged their support in the fight to protect Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni.
“Conservation groups are largely following the tribes’ lead,” said Michael Toll, an attorney for the Grand Canyon Trust.
As the case progresses, Arizona lawmakers have hinted that if the court does not rule in their favor, the plan is to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.
Campbell says it will likely be months before the tribes’ motion to intervene is resolved and years before the lawsuit is fully resolved.
Therefore, for the foreseeable future, Indian lands will remain solidly in the hands of the federal government.