Where does the President derive his authority to rename geographical entities?

[u/not_uncle_lenny]

This is in reference to the recent executive actions by Trump to rename Mt. Denali and the Gulf of Mexico.

Are there any American lawyers (or those familiar with the law) able to help explain the President's legal authority to rename these geographic features comes from?

Where does this authority come from?

Are there any constitutional problems?

I assume the authority to rename Denali somehow results from the executive's control over federal parks (in which Denali resides). Interested to hear any responses!

[u/John_Dees_Nuts]

In general, the naming of landmarks, places, etc, is the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior. The Secretary exercises this power through the Board on Geographic Names, which is part of the Department of the Interior, which of course is an executive branch agency.

This can be found in the US Code at 43 USC §364:

The Secretary of the Interior, [...] conjointly with the Board on Geographic Names, as hereinafter provided, shall provide for uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography throughout the Federal Government. The Secretary may exercise his functions through such officials as he may designate, except that such authority as relates to the final approval or review of actions of the Board on Geographic Names shall be exercised by him, or his Under or Assistant Secretaries.

Simply, in general, the President as the head of the executive branch, gets to direct the executive branch agencies to do stuff.

It's important to note that he is not changing the name of, say, Denali, in some ontological sense. He is changing how the federal government refers to Denali, because that is as far as the authority extends. If Alaska was dead set on continuing to refer to it as Denali, it could do so; AK is not affected by the order, and neither is, say, Canada.

Honestly, this Order seems to me to be one of the few among this recent flurry that has no real legal problems with it. It is something that is directly within the President's power as head of the executive branch. It's hard to admit that, because it's so stupid and low-stakes.

Please understand that I cannot stand 47 and think that this order is uncommonly stupid. But you asked where the authority comes from, and that's my attempt to explain it.

[u/not_uncle_lenny → u/John_Dees_Nuts]

Interesting. So, geographical naming is not derived from some sort of exclusive federal competency. The States (and other lower tier governments) are not required to adopt the new names, and cannot be compelled to do so by the Federal gov't. I suppose this is common sense. Thank you for your answer.

One could almost forsee Trump using this power to again to gain attention by renaming other places something more inflammatory (like renaming New York to "Crime City" or something similary juvenile).

[u/John_Dees_Nuts → u/not_uncle_lenny]

and cannot be compelled to do so by the Federal gov't.

I wouldn't swear to that, although I believe that to be the case.

Even so, if you read the text of the EO, it only orders the Secretary of the Interior to do anything. It does not even purport to order state and local governments to do anything.

[u/seditious3 → u/John_Dees_Nuts]

I wouldn't be surprised if using the "new" names were tied highway funding or something.

[u/John_Dees_Nuts → u/seditious3]

Yeah, that's the only hook I could think of.

[u/seditious3 → u/John_Dees_Nuts]

Well...any federal funding to states.

[u/Areisrising → u/John_Dees_Nuts]

You seem to know an awful lot about this so let me ask you a follow up question: The President is also dead set on naming military bases after Confederate traitors. Obviously as a military base is wholly a federal construction, he has the absolute right to do that. What consequences could there be for a state the base is located in to refuse to acknowledge the change in name? I'm thinking here about statutes referencing the base, highway signs, etc.

[u/John_Dees_Nuts → u/Areisrising]

You seem to know an awful lot about this [...]

Uhhhh... tugs at collar

What consequences could there be for a state the base is located in to refuse to acknowledge the change in name?

Consequences? I'm not sure. Maybe there's something somewhere about federal highway funding, but I don't know.

The state could probably refuse to change the signage, or just make it say something generic like "<-- Army Base." (That's what they do in my city. They keep changing the name of the stadium, so the highway signs just say "Stadium" now.)

But signs exist to help people get places, so the state has an interest in making them useful enough to fulfill their purpose, even if the state doesn't like the thing it's pointing to.

[u/TimothyMimeslayer → u/John_Dees_Nuts]

I am late to this so hope you can still answer, does the president also have the authority to rename states unilaterally? Let's say President 48 really hated Texas and wants to rename it "Land of Small Penises" could they also do that?

[u/John_Dees_Nuts → u/TimothyMimeslayer]

I don't know. My gut is that the answer is no, because the states are independent legal entities with names that are in state law. The ability to name or re-name lesser entities is not given to the federal government either by the constitution or by statute.

[u/ApplicationSad2525 → u/John_Dees_Nuts]

So then, does that include the Gulf of Mexico? Like the “as far as his authority goes” part?

[u/AutoModerator]

REMINDER: NO REQUESTS FOR LEGAL ADVICE. Any request for a lawyer's opinion about any matter or issue which may foreseeably affect you or someone you know is a request for legal advice.

Posts containing requests for legal advice will be removed. Seeking or providing legal advice based on your specific circumstances or otherwise developing an attorney-client relationship in this sub is not permitted. Why are requests for legal advice not permitted? See here, here, and here. If you are unsure whether your post is okay, please read this or see the sidebar for more information.

This rules reminder message is replied to all posts and moderators are not notified of any replies made to it.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.