President Donald Trump is laying the legal groundwork to reverse yet another part of Joe Biden’s radical legacy.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice issued a formal opinion stating that Trump has the authority to cancel Biden-era national monuments—massive federal land grabs pushed under the guise of climate activism. The monuments in question, Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands in California, cover nearly 850,000 acres combined and were designated by Biden just before leaving office.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit authored the legal opinion, asserting that the power to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906 includes the power to revoke them. Pettit’s statement reverses a 1938 DOJ position that presidents could only create, not eliminate, monuments.

“For the Antiquities Act, the power to declare carries with it the power to revoke,” Pettit wrote.

It’s a powerful shift in legal interpretation—and a direct shot at the Biden administration’s sweeping use of executive authority to lock up federal lands in the name of climate change. The move also opens the door for Trump to roll back arbitrary designations that restrict resource development and hurt rural economies.

Back in his first term, President Trump reduced the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in Utah, describing them as a “massive land grab.” Biden promptly reversed those changes after taking office in 2021. Now, Trump may do the same to Biden’s monuments—and more.

The DOJ opinion casts Biden’s actions as politically motivated rather than conservation-focused. Pettit pointed out that Biden promoted recreational activities like hiking and biking as justification for the designations—uses that she called “entirely expected in a park,” but “wholly unrelated” to the protection of scientific or historical features, the supposed legal basis of monument status.

Critics on the left, predictably, are furious. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) blasted the DOJ’s move, saying, “At Donald Trump’s order, his Justice Department is attempting to clear a path to erase national monuments.” Heinrich vowed to resist what he called a Republican effort to “rip away” the public’s connection to land and history.

But the Trump White House isn’t backing down.

Spokesperson Harrison Fields responded to the outrage by reaffirming the administration’s commitment to “liberate our federal lands and waters to oil, gas, coal, geothermal, and mineral leasing.” It’s a direct contrast to Biden’s war on domestic energy and a signal that Trump intends to put America’s natural resources back to work.

While the DOJ opinion does not confirm exactly when or which monuments will be revoked, the legal foundation is now in place—and the message is clear: under Trump, federal lands belong to the American people again, not the radical environmental lobby.

This is more than just a legal reversal. It’s a declaration that Biden’s reckless use of executive power will be undone—and that jobs, energy independence, and constitutional limits are coming back under Trump’s leadership.