Federalist Society contributor Donald Kochan writes for the Hill:

The lure of legacy is pulling President Obama to designate national monuments at an unprecedented rate and with even greater vigor in the midnight hour of his last term. President Obama has already designated more than two dozen national monuments, the most ever of any President. Teddy Roosevelt designated 18 monuments; Bill Clinton 19; and George W. Bush just 6.

President Obama’s monuments encompass 548 million acres of federal land and water, double the amount of any preceding President.  This includes the recent quadrupling of the size of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off northwestern Hawaii to 582,578 square miles, making it what some have called the largest protected place on Earth.  He’s not done yet.  Several possible designations loom, including the approximately 1.9 million-acre proposed Bears Ears national monument in Utah.

For more on why it matters, read the full article, and download Professor Kochan's Teleforum podcast.