Religious groups support Apache Stronghold’s opposition to Oak Flat copper mine

Eighty-five religious organizations stepped up to support Apache
Stronghold in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court
decision over the Oak Flat copper mine, saying it discriminates against
Native religious beliefs.

The organizations filed an amicus brief,
known as a “friend of the court” brief, on Monday, Oct. 14, supporting
Apache Stronghold’s challenge of a federal land transfer that gave away
land in the Tonto National Forest to Resolution Copper in exchange for
other lands.

In the process, the mine would destroy parts of Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, the sacred Oak Flat site important to several tribes including the Apache.

“Because the federal government’s action here will prevent the Western Apaches from engaging in religious practices at Chí’chil Biłdagoteel — practices that cannot take place anywhere else — the outcome of this case should have been straightforward,” the brief reads.

Members of Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group of San Carlos Apaches
and other tribal members, marched cross-country to Washington, D.C., to
deliver a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case.

The group convened in front of the Supreme Court on Sept. 11, filing a
petition asking the justices to reconsider a narrow 2023 decision from
the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ninth Circuit Court
declined to rehear the case in May 2024.

The Supreme Court likely will decide whether to hear the case by late December or early January 2025.

Monday’s
filing came on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The brief is filed on behalf of
more than a dozen denominations and organizations, including
Methodists, Presbyterians, Churches of Christ, Quakers, Mennonites,
Catholics, Episcopal and Christian churches, Buddhists, Jewish
organizations and environmental groups.

The brief argues the lower court’s decision is legally unsound,
relying on misinterpretations of legal precedent, including the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The proposed mine would result in a crater two miles across and more than 1,000 feet deep, large enough to fit the Eiffel Tower.