Why that is so puzzles many people.
Mark Joseph Stern
@mjsdc.bsky.social
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The Supreme Court refuses to consider whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars the government from destroying a sacred Western Apache site by turning it into a copper mine. Gorsuch, joined by Thomas, has an incandescently angry dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. JUSTICE
ALITO took no part in the consideration or decision of this
petition.
JUSTICE GORSUCH, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS joins,
dissenting from the denial of certiorari.
For centuries, Western Apaches have worshipped at
Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, or Oak Flat. They consider the site a
sacred and “direct corridor to the Creator.” Pet. for Cert. 8.
It is a place where tribal members conduct “religious ceremonies that cannot take place elsewhere.” Ibid. Recognizing Oak Flat’s significance, the government has long protected both the land and the Apaches’ access to it.
No more. Now, the government and a mining conglomerate want to turn Oak Flat into a massive hole in the ground.
To extract copper lying beneath the land, they plan to blast
tunnels that will result in a crater perhaps 1,000 feet deep
and nearly two miles wide. 101 F. 4th 1036, 1131 (CA9
2024) (en banc) (Murguia, C. J., dissenting). “It is undisputed” that the government’s plan will permanently “destroy the Apaches’ historical place of worship, preventing
them from ever again engaging in religious exercise” at Oak
Flat. Id., at 1129.
ALT
May 27, 2025 at 9:35 AM
The Supreme Court refuses to consider whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars the government from destroying a sacred Western Apache site by turning it into a copper mine. Gorsuch, joined by Thomas, has an incandescently angry dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) 2025-05-27T13:35:40.743Z
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