WaPo on Oak Flat: “A land fight pits a sacred Apache tradition against a copper mine”

Here.

An excerpt:

Oak Flat sits on one of North America’s largest undeveloped deposits of copper. The mineral is used in dozens of items, including smartphones, electric vehicles and solar panels. The company Resolution Copper believes there are 20 million tons of copper under Oak Flat that could supply up to one-quarter of the U.S. copper demand over 40 years. At today’s prices, experts say that much copper would be worth about $200 billion. The company asserts it will create more than a thousand jobs in an area with high unemployment.

Mining Oak Flat, however, would eventually transform the landscape, creating what geologists say would be a vast crater. To prevent this, the tribe and other opponents of the mine have filed multiple lawsuits and tried unsuccessfully to get one of the cases heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal appeals court will hold a hearing for several of the suits in early January.

“If they take Oak Flat, they destroy our religion and who we are,” said Vanessa Nosie, an archaeology aide for the San Carlos Apache Tribe who also helps her father lead a nonprofit fighting the mine. Lozen, she added, is “dancing to carry the fight for all we’re trying to save.”

As the singers drummed in the downpour, Lozen pounded her ceremonial cane into the muddy ground. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and she faltered for a moment.

A woman in the crowd whooped. Another onlooker yelled, “Go, Lozen!” She pulled her shoulders back, lifted her head and looked straight ahead to the sprawling landscape of cacti and Emory oaks that give the region its name.

She kept dancing.

Ninth Circuit Briefing in Oak Flat Cases (so far)

Here are the briefs in several consolidated cases [Brown Lopez v. United States, 25-5197; Arizona Mining Reform Coalition v. Rollins, 25-5185; San Carlos Apache Tribe v. United States Forest Service, 25-5189]:

CA9 Stay Order

Arizona Reform Mining Coalition Opening Brief

Lopez Opening Brief

San Carlos Apache Tribe Opening Brief

Tribal Orgs Amicus

Lipan NAC Amicus  

NNALSA Amicus

Sacred Ground Legal Services

COLT Amicus Brief

Religious Freedom Institute Amicus Brief

SCOTUS Denies Cert in Apache Stronghold v. US over Lengthy Gorsuch Dissent

Here is today’s order list, with the dissent beginning on page 6.

An excerpt:

While this Court enjoys the power to choose which cases it will hear, its decision to shuffle this case off our docket without a full airing is a grievous mistake—one with consequences that threaten to reverberate for generations. Just imagine if the government sought to demolish a historic cathedral on so questionable a chain of legal reasoning. I have no doubt that we would find that case worth our time. Faced with the government’s plan to destroy an ancient site of tribal worship, we owe the Apaches no less. They may live far from Washington, D. C., and their history and religious practices may be unfamiliar to many. But that should make no difference. “Popular religious views are easy enough to defend. It is in protecting unpopular religious beliefs that we prove this country’s commitment to . . . religious freedom.” Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm’n, 584 U. S. 617, 649 (2018) (GORSUCH, J., concurring).

Prior posts here,

United Nations CERD Letter to United States re: San Carlos Apache Tribe’s “allegations of religious freedoms violations by the United States”

Here:

Prior post here.

Arizona DCT Stays Oak Flat Land Transfer Pending SCT Cert Decision

Here are the materials in Apache Stronghold v. United States (D. Ariz.):

150 Motion for Emergency Stay

156 Copper Company Response

157 Federal Response

162 Reply ISO 150

170 DCT Order

Federal Cert Opposition Brief in Apache Stronghold

Here:

Cert petition here. Tribal amicus briefs here.

Tribal Amicus Briefs Supporting Cert Petition in Oak Flat Case

Here:

Cert petition here.

Apache Stronghold v. United States Cert Petition

Here:

Lower court materials here.

Ninth Circuit Rejects Full En Banc Petition in Oak Flat Case

Here is the amended opinion and the order denying en banc review before the full court.

Panel decision and briefs here.

Ka’ila Ferrell Smith

UCLA Webinar on Oak Flat Decision

Link