Washington – The Supreme Court On Tuesday, rejected a last -minute plea of the Amerindians seeking to challenge a huge mining project in copper in Arizona which would destroy a sacred site used for tribal ceremonies, a weight dispute between religious rights to commercial interests.
The court refused an appeal brought by the APACHOLD APACHOLD non -profit group claiming that the religious rights of its members will be raped if the copper mine of resolution advances because it would erase the oak flat, the site in question.
Trump administration recently announced his support for the project.
The court order noted that conservative judge Samuel Alito had not participated. It didn’t say why.
Conservative judges Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas said they would have taken over.
Gorsuch, known for his support for the Amerindians In other cases, said in a dissent That it was a “serious error” not to hear the dispute and suggested that the court would have acted differently if the complaint was brought by Christians.
“Simply imagine if the government sought to demolish a historic cathedral on a chain so questionable legal reasoning. I have no doubt that we would find this case which is worth our time,” he added “confronted with the plan of the government to destroy an old tribal cult site, we owe the apaches no less.”
Attention is a law adopted by Congress in 2014, which transferred the land from federal property to COPPER resolution, a joint venture of Rio Tinto and BHP mining companies.
Resolution Copper says that the mine could provide around 25% of the country’s copper, metal with high demand for renewable energy projects and electric vehicles.
Apache Stronghold said that the religious rights of tribal members have been violated both under the first amendment to the Constitution and a federal law called Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Oak Flat has been used for years by Western Apaches, a group of Amerindians who includes various tribes, including the San Carlos Apache tribe, which is based on a nearby reserve. Oak Flat is in the Tonto national forest, about 70 miles east of Phoenix.
“The oak apartment lies in the ancestral territory of the tribe and is at the heart of the Apache traditional religion like the house of the deities of Apache and the only place where the Apaches can practice unique ceremonies,” wrote lawyers from the Apache of San Carlos tribe in court documents supporting the appeal.
According to Apache Strongholh, the site is the place of housing of spiritual beings called Ga’an and acts as “a direct corridor to the creator”. The site is used for sweatshirt ceremonies to mark boys reaching virility and the “sun ceremony” of several days which celebrates girls reaching femininity.
An environmental study revealed that if the mine is built, the locations used for various ceremonies would be destroyed, the land stretching to create a giant crater almost 2 miles wide.
The case reached the Supreme Court after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, ruled accurately against Apache Stronghold earlier this year, concluding that the transfer of land does not “charge substantially” the capacity of the members of the tribe to exercise their religious rights. A judge of the district court had previously reached the same conclusion.
The main factors in the case are that the land in question belonged to the federal government, not to any of the tribes, and were transferred by an act of congress.
The United States initially took control of the field in the middle of the 19th century. He signed a treaty of 1852 with the heads of Apache who undertook to protect tribal interests, but as for other treaties with tribes, the government has not complied with its obligations.
Apache Strongholh’s trial also contained a complaint under the 1852 treaty, but this question is not before the Supreme Court.
The conservative majority 6-3 of the Court regularly supports religious rights in cases which often involve allegations carried by Christians.
The Apache affair was partly different because it involved Amerindians and had the attention of powerful interests wishing to carry out the mining project.
In the court documents filed before President Donald Trump took office, then the general promoter, Elizabeth Prelogar, urged the court not to hear the case, affirming that if the government respects the religious beliefs of the tribe “Congress specifically obliged that oak is transferred so that the area can be used for mining”.
In addition, she added, there is no precedent to conclude that the government can violate religious rights by making decisions concerning its own land.
But Apache Strongholh had a strong support for himself, including legal groups which have already prevailed at the Supreme Court when they represented conservative Christians, such as the Defense group of religious rights Becket. Various religious groups, including the Presbyterian Church and the Episcopalian Church, have deposited memories urging the Supreme Court to take the case.
