# Legal question about Mt. McKinley/Denali name change **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531 "2015-08-31T19:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/21 "2015-09-01T14:14:23Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Yes. And if you’re in Australia, go see Ayers Rock. Or Mt. Taylor on the Diné (Navaho) reservation. That one is not far from a deliberate insult from their viewpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/22 "2015-09-01T14:52:57Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Why not just throw Ohioans a bone and re-name something else after McKinley – There must be something around, currently having a name of no great attachment, that Ohioans could appreciate being named after McKinley. I suggest a nice nature preserve on Vieques Island, PR. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/23 "2015-09-01T15:06:28Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Why not just throw Ohioans a bone and re-name something else after McKinley – There must be something around, currently having a name of no great attachment, that Ohioans could appreciate being named after McKinley. Maybe a strip-mall? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/24 "2015-09-01T15:17:11Z")
Ohioans have a state full of stuff to name and rename if they want – why would they get to decide what is named what in Alaska? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/25 "2015-09-01T15:19:21Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Maybe a strip-mall? Gun shop. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/26 "2015-09-01T15:57:00Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Gun shop. Too soon! ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/27 "2015-09-01T16:42:41Z")
Getting back to GQ territory, the mountain in question was named by law in the Mount McKinley National Park Act. Congress passed a law giving it the name Mt McKinley. President Woodrow Wilson (D) signed it into law. It takes a new law to repeal or revise the prior law. Since the 1947 law cited as justification by the Obama administration for the renaming did not have specific language amending the prior law then it would seem critics of the administration’s move have a legitimate complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/28 "2015-09-01T16:57:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Too soon! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/29 "2015-09-01T16:57:45Z")
It looks like authority is multiple and muddled. It really doesn’t matter. Other than that some folks have to get over the horrible fact that Obama Did It!, the change is about 90 years overdue and opposed only by the special interest of one state that has no other connection to the region, the mountain or the issue. Undoing all the Anglo-explorer renaming of sites with known names from antiquity is not a trivial effort, and the mountain should have been restored to its former name, along with the park, long ago. It really doesn’t matter what chain of authority or bruised counter-authority does it. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/30 "2015-09-01T17:05:35Z")
Does this mean Mt. Rainier is up for a name change? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/31 "2015-09-01T17:08:58Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > Does this mean Mt. Rainier is up for a name change? Is there a movement to change it? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/32 "2015-09-01T17:19:43Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Getting back to GQ territory, the mountain in question was named by law in the Mount McKinley National Park Act. Congress passed a law giving it the name Mt McKinley. President Woodrow Wilson (D) signed it into law. > > It takes a new law to repeal or revise the prior law. Since the 1947 law cited as justification by the Obama administration for the renaming did not have specific language amending the prior law then it would seem critics of the administration’s move have a legitimate complaint. OK, that seems like a legitimate issue. But, would the 1947 law have to specifically address all laws it might supersede? If Congress is approving a law saying that the BGN gets to name things from now on, wouldn’t it be implied that all previously-named things were fair game? Isn’t an understood amendment to the prior law (and any other laws naming things) sort of baked in to the new law? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/33 "2015-09-01T17:34:36Z")
It depends on the language of the 1947 law (which I don’t feel like looking up). There is a canon of statutory construction which says the general yields to the specific, even if the general is later in time. However, you only reach canons of construction if the general law is ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/34 "2015-09-01T17:41:27Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Undoing all the Anglo-explorer renaming of sites with known names from antiquity is not a trivial effort, and the mountain should have been restored to its former name, along with the park, long ago. It really doesn’t matter what chain of authority or bruised counter-authority does it. Wow. Somebody’s got some butthurt here. I’m sure it helps that “Denali” is a short, easy-to-say name. If the Native American name was Ithiqualarikihukuji, you could count on one hand the number of people objecting to “Mt. McKinley.” Similarly, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument (admittedly not the pinnacle of euphoniousness) was renamed to “Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.” I doubt that many people actually call it that on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/35 "2015-09-01T17:43:11Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Getting back to GQ territory, the mountain in question was named by law in the Mount McKinley National Park Act. Congress passed a law giving it the name Mt McKinley. President Woodrow Wilson (D) signed it into law. > > It takes a new law to repeal or revise the prior law. Since the 1947 law cited as justification by the Obama administration for the renaming did not have specific language amending the prior law then it would seem critics of the administration’s move have a legitimate complaint. Nope. The 1917 [legislation](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=amrvl&fileName=vl127//amrvlvl127.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/AMALL:@field(NUMBER+@band(amrvl%20vl127))&linkText=0) didn’t name the mountain, it named the park. And the later-in-time legislation would control anyway. It is not necessary to specifically overrule a prior statute if the two cannot be reconciled. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/36 "2015-09-01T17:44:46Z")
I just hope they leave the Grand Tetons alone. Because they are real…and marvelous. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/37 "2015-09-01T17:57:19Z")
We should change the Cleveland baseball team to the McKinley’s and have a caricature of him as our logo 🙂 (ZJJ, huge Indians fan. Not a Wahoo fan.) ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/38 "2015-09-01T17:58:56Z")
Poor Alaskan shopkeepers. Not they have to change all those postcards. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/39 "2015-09-01T18:00:17Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Ohioans have a state full of stuff to name and rename if they want – why would they get to decide what is named what in Alaska? Exactly. If Ohio’s politicians want something named after their native son, find something in your own danged state to rename! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531/40 "2015-09-01T18:12:25Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The 1917 [legislation](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=amrvl&fileName=vl127//amrvlvl127.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/AMALL:@field(NUMBER+@band(amrvl%20vl127))&linkText=0) didn’t name the mountain, it named the park. Which was, of course, itself renamed Denali National Park by Congress in 1980. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-mt-mckinley-denali-name-change/729531.md?page=3)