Cultural Heritage Partners

06/17/2026

Section 106 agreement documents are federal permit conditions, and agencies have the power and responsibility to enforce them as such. In the recent U.S. v. Savannah Land Holdings consent decree, a Georgia developer just agreed to pay $1.1 million for destroying Native American burial sites, losing thousands of artifacts, and failing to repatriate human remains.

Their 2007 wetlands fill permit incorporated a Programmatic Agreement governing treatment of historic properties under NHPA Section 106. When the developer skipped required surveys, bulldozed through burial sites, and failed to consult, they committed federal permit violations, enforceable in federal court with civil penalties accruing by the day. These types of federal enforcement actions are too rare, but this case provides a useful model when developer behavior is beyond the pale.

A Savannah area development company accused of damaging or losing over 80,000 Native American artifacts and improperly removing human remains will pay the federal government over $1 million, court …

06/16/2026

A new lawsuit filed yesterday challenges the Trump administration plan to transform West Potomac Park into a 250-statue "National Garden of American Heroes" without congressional authorization and in violation of multiple federal laws. The coalition of plaintiffs (National Parks Conservation Association, DC Preservation League, National Mall Coalition, Olmsted Network, Committee of 100 on the Federal City, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and a D.C. resident) allege the project violates the Commemorative Works Act, NHPA, and NEPA.

One key issue is that Congress expressly prohibited new commemorative works within the "great cross-axis of the Mall," which includes West Potomac Park. The complaint also raises the extensive pattern of the administration bypassing legally required review processes across multiple D.C. projects, with no congressional authorization, no public process, and no transparency about funding. Looking forward to following this important case.

President Donald Trump's envisioned National Garden of American Heroes, a statuary ensemble of figures from American history, does not belong in West Potomac Park, a congressionally mandated recreational area, a group of organizations said Monday in filing a lawsuit to derail the president's plan.

06/10/2026

“Our protected public lands are being gifted for the benefit of the world’s richest man, who could trash them while playing with his exploding rockets,” Laiken Jordahl, a national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. “The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge was built by decades of conservation work and funded by millions of taxpayer dollars to protect our vulnerable wildlife like ocelots and piping plovers. We’re not letting Trump and his political cronies lock the American people out of Texas’ cherished public lands just to give Elon Musk another payday.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is being sued by a local Native American tribe and some conservation groups to prevent the exchange of more than 700 acres of federally protected land in Cameron County.

06/10/2026

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the U.S. Forest Service from using the president’s energy emergency order to shortcut the process for evaluating the environmental and cultural impact of a 226-mile transmission line through Nebraska.

The U.S. Forest Service was blocked from using Trump's "national energy emergency" to expedite the review process for construction of a transmission line across the Nebraska Sandhills.

06/09/2026

Big news: We're thrilled to welcome Charles Curlett to Cultural Heritage Partners as a Partner and Chair of our Litigation Practice!

Charles is a former Manhattan prosecutor and nationally recognized trial lawyer with a career built on complex, high-stakes litigation. He brings exactly the kind of courtroom excellence and strategic instincts our work increasingly demands.

His timing couldn't be better. CHP is in the middle of landmark cases, including efforts to defend the Kennedy Center and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and we're excited to have Charles leading the charge. Welcome to the team! 🎉

Read the full announcement:

Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC is a law, policy, and strategy firm dedicated to serving the U.S. and global cultural heritage sector.

06/09/2026

We are delighted to welcome nationally recognized trial lawyer Charles Curlett to the firm as partner and chair of our litigation practice!

"Curlett’s arrival reflects the growing complexity of cultural heritage litigation, a practice area increasingly shaped by administrative law, environmental review, historic preservation statutes, civil rights issues and politically sensitive public projects. As disputes over historic places, sacred sites and cultural resources become more visible, legal strategy often requires both specialized subject-matter knowledge and strong trial capability.

“Cultural heritage cases increasingly sit at the intersection of law, politics, and public accountability,” Curlett said. “They demand not just subject-matter expertise, but trial readiness and strategic clarity. I’m excited to join a firm that is leading nationally significant cases and to help translate its mission into courtroom results.”

Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC has named nationally recognized trial lawyer Charles N. Curlett, Jr. as partner and chair of its... Read More

06/09/2026

🚨 You have JUST SEVEN DAYS to weigh in on the historic preservation impacts of the 250-foot "Triumphal Arch" at Memorial Circle. NPS is proposing to finalize a Programmatic Agreement instead of resolving ANY of the historic preservation concerns with the arch – even while they concede that construction will take 2-3 years and there’s no rush. The assessment documents acknowledge adverse effects on dozens of historic properties, while providing:

No final design. No visual impacts analysis. No evaluation of nighttime illumination. No archaeological survey despite the area’s high archaeological potential.

Please act by June 15. Submit a comment to NPS asking them to:

✅ Finalize the project design first, then develop an MOA for the arch after the archaeological and visual impacts have been fully assessed.
✅ Grant consulting party status to the organizations that have requested it.
✅ Provide the full document library to consulting organizations and Tribes, including the Phase IA archaeological study and other documents that NPS is relying on.
✅ Extend the comment period – ten days is not adequate time to review effects on this many historic properties, especially with so many details left unclear.

Our historic landscapes have taken centuries to build. The public deserves more than ten days to weigh in on changing them.

Submit your comment here: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=151576

06/08/2026

Comments due Monday, June 15th!

Under 36 CFR § 800.1(c), federal agencies must complete the Section 106 process prior to the approval of the expenditure of any Federal funds on the undertaking or prior to the issuance of any license. Bypassing rigorous public consultation or treating Section 106 as a post-hoc rubber-stamp mechanism to meet an accelerated construction timeline for the 250th anniversary violates both the spirit and letter of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Read more about the assessment of effects and submit public comments by Monday, June 15th. https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=136973

06/07/2026

Beyond the procedural claims that the lawsuit skipped an environmental review and took over federal spaces for an event without the approval of Congress, the case focuses heavily on questions of improper financial gains.

A federal lawsuit said the event, set for June 14, was unlawfully planned and designed to benefit Mr. Trump and his allies.

06/06/2026

Wait, what now?!?

“If the government decided very quickly and bulldozed the Statue of Liberty, the people whose ancestors, that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the government moved too fast. Nothing can be done?” U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett asked.

“I think that’s right,” responded Yaakov Roth, the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice Civil Division.

A majority on a three-judge appeals court panel appeared sympathetic to a challenge to President Trump’s White House ballroom project at oral arguments Frida…