Why would the US government ever refuse the US dollar? 

In a moment of remarkable irony, Toby Stover vs. United States National Park Service may go down in history as the case that put America’s legal tender on trial — at the hands of its own government. 

At its core, this lawsuit challenges the National Park Service’s growing refusal to accept cash — U.S. dollars — at dozens of federally funded national parks. One such site is none other than the historic home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York’s Hyde Park. There, a woman offered to pay her entry fee in U.S. currency, clearly marked “Legal Tender for All Debts, Public and Private.” Park officials refused. 

Reflect for a minute on that.  

The Park Service, a federal agency, is declining to accept money issued by the U.S. Treasury, backed by federal law. And in this instance, it happened at the home of FDR, the very president who, in 1935, ordered the inclusion of the Great Seal of the United States on every dollar bill to bolster confidence during the Great Depression. Today, the federal government refuses to accept those very same bills on the hallowed grounds of his historic residence. 

According to the plaintiff’s May 12 filing in the Washington, D.C., Federal District Court, entrance fees to a national park are bound by the U.S. Treasury’s legal tender statute, which states that “United States coins and currency … are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.” Refusing to accept cash for public entry fees appears to directly violate this statute. The question at hand is not whether the Park Service prefers digital payments — it is whether federal agencies can legally refuse the nation’s own money. 

This isn’t a glitch in the system. It’s a symptom of a larger, and dangerous, trend. Scores of parks across the country have implemented or are transitioning to “cashless” payment systems. This includes iconic places like Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, Mount Rainier and Lake Mead. Even our more local Great Falls National Park went cashless in January.  

As the U.S. National Park Service turns its back on cash, however, other federal institutions are moving in the opposite direction. According to the IRS’s chief counsel, Taxpayer Assistance Centers are required to accept cash from taxpayers pursuant to federal law. And in the U.S. Congress, Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.) recently reintroduced the Payment Choice Act, a bill with bipartisan support that would require retailers to accept cash for purchases of $500 or less in brick-and-mortar establishments.  

An increasing number of state and local jurisdictions are passing “cashless bans” in the absence of a federal law, requiring retailers to accept cash to ensure access and inclusion for all consumers and to guarantee essential commercial continuity in times of disaster. So while these local governments affirm cash as a public right, the U.S. National Park Service is refusing the only form of payment that requires no permission, no technology and no third-party intermediary charging fees to facilitate a simple transaction and/or selling your data to other companies.  

That contradiction should trouble us all. 

In the Toby Stover case, the National Park Service argues that if visitors can pay digitally, refusing to do so is a “self-inflicted” injury. This logic is deeply flawed. The right to engage in commercial transactions should not be contingent on smartphone access or digital literacy. Tendering cash is an exercise of one’s basic right to permissionless transactions.  

There is also a practical vulnerability here. Digital systems depend on power and internet connectivity. What happens when the grid goes down following natural disasters, computer glitches or cyberattacks? At many parks, visitors could be turned away, not because they didn’t want to pay but because they brought the one form of payment the U.S. government no longer respects — its own currency!  

Will history remember Toby Stover vs. U.S. National Park Service as the case that helped rescue the dollar’s dignity, or as the beginning of its quiet demise? In a democracy built on laws and liberty, the answer matters. 

Jeff Thinnes is CEO of JTI, Inc., which supports the Payment Choice Coalition, a group of companies advocating for the right to use cash for reasons of resilience, national security, privacy, fairness, safety and freedom of choice.