The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea from a group of Native American activists and supporters to block a copper mining company from destroying an Apache religious site.
The high court rejected the petition 6-2, with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissenting from the decision not to hear the case. Justice Samuel Alito did not take part in considering the petition, but the Supreme Court provided no reason why.
Apache Stronghold filed the appeal of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision allowing the site in question to be transferred to Resolution Copper, the company seeking to mine it. The group argued that allowing Oak Flat, a place where the Apache have worshiped for generations, to be destroyed would have significant religious freedom implications.
Gorsuch, in his lengthy dissent with Thomas, called the decision not to hear the case a “grave mistake.”
“This case meets every one of the standards we usually apply when assessing petitions for certiorari: The decision below is highly doubtful as a matter of law, it takes a view of the law at odds with those expressed by other federal courts of appeals, and it is vitally important,” Gorsuch wrote in the dissent. “Before allowing the government to destroy the Apaches’ sacred site, this Court should at least have troubled itself to hear their case.”
While the high court’s decision not to hear the case significantly hurts the group’s chances of preventing the land transfer, activists said in the aftermath that “nothing will deter us from protecting Oak Flat from destruction.”
“While this decision is a heavy blow, our struggle is far from over. We urge Congress to take decisive action to stop this injustice while we press forward in the courts,” Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold said in a statement.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which helped represent Apache Stronghold in the legal proceedings, also vowed to continue to work to ensure Oak Flat remains preserved for worshippers.
“It is hard to imagine a more brazen attack on faith than blasting the birthplace of Apache religion into a gaping crater,” Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement.
“The Court’s refusal to halt the destruction is a tragic departure from its strong record of defending religious freedom. We will do everything in our power to ensure that the Apaches can continue worshiping at Oak Flat as they have for generations,” Goodrich added.
Vicky Peacey, general manager of Resolution Copper, said the company is “pleased that the Ninth Circuit’s decision will stand” and touted the project’s benefits for the country’s supply of “copper and other critical minerals.”
“We are encouraged by the significant community support for the project, which has the potential to become one of the largest copper mines in America, add $1 billion a year to Arizona’s economy, and create thousands of local jobs in a region where mining has played an important role for more than a century,” Peacey said.
“More than a decade of extensive consultation and collaboration with Native American Tribes and local communities has directly led to major changes to the mining plan to preserve and reduce potential impacts on Tribal, social, and cultural interests, and this ongoing dialogue will continue to shape the project,” Peacey added.
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The high court on Tuesday also rejected a petition from a middle school student in Massachusetts who claimed that school officials infringed upon his First Amendment rights by banning him from wearing a shirt that said, “There are only two genders.”
Alito and Thomas dissented from that order, arguing that the Supreme Court should have heard the appeal from the First Circuit Court of Appeals.