This week, the Ninth Circuit addresses a religion-based challenge to a federal-government land transfer and considers whether public-sector employees can obtain refunds of mandatory union fees since deemed unconstitutional.
APACHE STRONGHOLD v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Court holds that plaintiffs challenging the U.S. government's transfer of land considered sacred by the Apache American Indians to a copper mining company are unlikely to succeed in showing that the transfer substantially burdened the plaintiffs' members' religious exercise, violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, or violated the U.S. government's trust obligations.
Panel: Judges Murguia, Berzon, and Bea, with Judge Bea writing the opinion, and Judge Berzon dissenting.
Key Highlight: "We are a 'cosmopolitan nation made up of people of almost every conceivable religious preference.' This pluralism is a source of strength, but it places demands on us all. In some cases, the many must accommodate the needs of the few'we accept that the government must sometimes 'expend additional funds to accommodate citizens' religious beliefs.' But in other cases, our need to 'maintain an organized society that guarantees religious freedom to a great variety of faiths requires that some religious practices yield to the common good.' This give-and-take suits perfectly neither the religious nor the secular. The 'diversity of beliefs in our pluralistic society' demands as much. Here, for the reasons given above, this case is the second of those two types." (Citations omitted).
Background: In 2014, Congress enacted legislation requiring the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to convey Oak Flat, a plot of federal land in Arizona, to a mining company named Resolution Copper in exchange for other nearby plots of land (the "Land Exchange"). Resolution Copper is considering building a copper mine under Oak Flat, which Apache American Indians call Chi'chil Bildagoteel and consider sacred ground. Apache Stronghold, a non-profit organization formed to protect American Indian sacred sites, sued the government arguing that the Land Exchange violates (1) the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA"); (2) The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and (3) a trust obligation imposed on the United States by the 1852 Treaty of Sante Fe between the Apache the United States.
Apache Stronghold sought a preliminary injunction to stop the Land Exchange and prevent any copper mining...
