## Facts

- President Obama issued Proclamation 9496 (Sept. 15, 2016) establishing the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument under the Antiquities Act.
- The Monument covers about 4,913 square miles of submerged lands and waters in the Atlantic Ocean within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, roughly 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod.
- The proclamation identified three submarine canyons and four seamounts, describing their geological features, deep-sea corals, and associated marine habitats as scientifically important.
- The proclamation barred commercial resource extraction and restricted commercial fishing, with limited transition periods for certain fishing activity.
- Commercial fishing groups alleged economic and operational harm from exclusion or restriction in an area they historically fished.
- Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief through nonstatutory ultra vires review, claiming the President exceeded authority under the Antiquities Act.
- The federal defendants moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim; intervenors supported the Monument.

## Issues

1. Whether the Antiquities Act authorizes the President to reserve submerged lands and waters in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone as “lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government.”
2. Whether the proclamation’s identified canyons, seamounts, and related ecosystems qualify as “objects of historic or scientific interest.”
3. Whether the Monument’s size violates the requirement that reservations be confined to the “smallest area compatible” with proper care and management of the protected objects.
4. Whether later marine and fisheries statutes implicitly limit the President’s Antiquities Act authority offshore.

## Decision

- The court granted the government’s motion to dismiss and dismissed the complaint with prejudice.
- The court held the Antiquities Act permits monument designations in the EEZ because the United States “controls” the relevant submerged lands and resources.
- The court held the proclamation identified qualifying “objects of historic or scientific interest,” including the canyons, seamounts, and associated ecological features.
- The court held plaintiffs failed to plausibly plead a “smallest area compatible” violation because they did not identify portions lacking protected objects or facts showing the boundary was arbitrary.
- The court rejected the argument that other marine-management statutes implicitly displaced Antiquities Act authority.

## Legal Principles

- Presidential monument proclamations are not reviewable under the APA, but courts may entertain nonstatutory ultra vires claims alleging action beyond statutory authority.
- “Lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government” in the Antiquities Act can include areas where the United States exercises substantial control, including the EEZ.
- “Objects of historic or scientific interest” is construed broadly and may include geological formations and ecological resources identified in a proclamation.
- The “smallest area compatible” determination is strongly deferential; a plaintiff must plausibly allege that the reservation includes areas unnecessary to protect the identified objects.
- Repeal or limitation of a prior statute by implication is disfavored; overlapping marine statutes may coexist with Antiquities Act monument authority absent clear congressional restriction.

## Conclusion

The district court upheld the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument as within the President’s Antiquities Act authority, concluding the EEZ can qualify as federally “controlled” lands, the protected marine features are qualifying scientific objects, plaintiffs did not plausibly allege excessive size, and other marine statutes did not impliedly curtail the Act.


Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Ass’n v. Ross, 349 F. Supp. 3d 48 (D.D.C. 2018)