As Indianz reports, the Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Service cert petition is brewing. A bunch of amici have filed supporting the cert petition, which definitely gets the attention of the Supreme Court (or at least the cert pool).
There are times when the respondent to a cert petition agrees with the petitioner that the Court should grant cert and hear the case. It happened in Negonsott v. Samuels (link to cert pool memo) and it could happen again … maybe.
There isn’t a classic or clear circuit split, but the CA9 in the Snowbowl case has come up with the most restrictive way to interpret RFRA’s “substantial burden test,” and I bet the United States would like to see the CA9’s rule expanded nationwide. And since American Indian religious freedom rights don’t do very well in the SCT, the United States might think this is the right vehicle and take a gamble. I’m being pretty cynical, and it is pretty unlikely, but you never know.
Turtle Talk 