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Hobbs, Mayes say GOP lawmakers have no standing in Grand Canyon monument case

President Joe Biden
Al Macias
President Joe Biden speaks before signing a proclamation designating the Baaj Nwaavjo I'Tah Kukveni National Monument at the Red Butte Airfield on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in Tusayan, Arizona.

Top Republican lawmakers have no legal right to try to undo the designation of nearly 1 million acres of federal land near the Grand Canyon as a national monument, the state's top two Democrat elected officials are charging.

In new legal filings in federal court, attorneys for Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes say the claims that somehow the state is being hurt by the creation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument are "speculative and conjectural.''

The lawsuit by House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen claims the designation will make it more difficult for the state to manage its own lands which are adjacent to the new monument.

But even leaving the merits of those arguments aside, Hobbs and Mayes say there's an even more basic problem with the lawsuit.

"The state of Arizona itself — represented by the attorney general — holds the general power to sue (or not sue) based on alleged harms to the state,'' they said. That specifically includes the right to protect the interests of state lands as well as the monies the state gets from leases.

At issue is the August 2023 decision by Biden to establish the national monument which would protect close to a million acres of public lands surrounding the Grand Canyon National Park.

In filing suit, Toma and Petersen acknowledge the 1906 Federal Antiquities Act does allow a president the power to set aside parcels of government land for protection. They argue, however, any proclamation has to be limited to historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of historic or scientific interest.