Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit community organization dedicated to defending holy sites and freedom of religion, took its legal battle and “journey of prayer” to the United States Supreme Court on September 11. For years the organization has been fighting the federal government’s transfer of land and resources at Oak Flat to a private company, Resolution Copper.

The group is composed of San Carlos Apache Tribe members, including former San Carlos Apache Chairman and Council member Wendsler Nosie Sr., who has mobilized the group across the country to bring awareness to the fate of Oak Flat and to seek support from religious groups willing to speak out on religious freedom issues.

Oak Flat, known to the Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, is federally owned land in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest that contains a large copper deposit 7,000 feet below the surface. The Apache have gathered at Oak Flat for centuries to conduct religious ceremonies and pray. The site is also culturally significant to the O’odham and other tribes.

Mining companies had lobbied Congress for years to gain control of the land, and they succeeded in their pursuit thanks to a last-minute rider in 2014 backed by former Arizona Senator John McCain that was attached to a defense bill. The rider transferred the land to Resolution Copper in an expedited land exchange called the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act.

Since 2021, nonprofit public-interest legal and educational institute Becket Law has represented Apache Stronghold in defending holy sites, Oak Flat in particular.

Arguing that the destruction of Oak Flat violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) and an 1852 treaty between the Apache and the U.S. government, Apache Stronghold in 2021 took the land transfer to a trial court, which declined to put a stop to the land exchange.

After an emergency appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021, a Ninth Circuit refusal of protection for Oak Flat in June 2022 and the Ninth Circuit agreeing to rehear the case “en banc” in front of a larger panel of 11 judges, the Ninth Circuit decided to continue with the land transfer in a 5-4 vote.

After unsuccessfully asking all 29 judges on the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case, Apache Stronghold filed its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 11 via a courier.

Apache Stronghold and its allies then hosted a day of prayer on the steps outside the Supreme Court after “two months following in the footsteps of the Spirit from the West,” which included a September stop in Alabama.

Now, Apache Stronghold must wait for at least four Supreme Court justices to hear the case for the appeal to move forward. If the court agrees to hear the appeal, oral arguments would be held in the Court’s 2024-25 term, which begins this month, with a potential decision expected in about June 2025. Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit community organization dedicated to defending holy sites and freedom of religion, took its legal battle and “journey of prayer” to the United States Supreme Court on September 11. For years the organization has been fighting the federal government’s transfer of land and resources at Oak Flat to a private company, Resolution Copper.

The group is composed of San Carlos Apache Tribe members, including former San Carlos Apache Chairman and Council member Wendsler Nosie Sr., who has mobilized the group across the country to bring awareness to the fate of Oak Flat and to seek support from religious groups willing to speak out on religious freedom issues.

Oak Flat, known to the Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, is federally owned land in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest that contains a large copper deposit 7,000 feet below the surface. The Apache have gathered at Oak Flat for centuries to conduct religious ceremonies and pray. The site is also culturally significant to the O’odham and other tribes.

Mining companies had lobbied Congress for years to gain control of the land, and they succeeded in their pursuit thanks to a last-minute rider in 2014 backed by former Arizona Senator John McCain that was attached to a defense bill. The rider transferred the land to Resolution Copper in an expedited land exchange called the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act.

Since 2021, nonprofit public-interest legal and educational institute Becket Law has represented Apache Stronghold in defending holy sites, Oak Flat in particular.

Arguing that the destruction of Oak Flat violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) and an 1852 treaty between the Apache and the U.S. government, Apache Stronghold in 2021 took the land transfer to a trial court, which declined to put a stop to the land exchange.

After an emergency appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021, a Ninth Circuit refusal of protection for Oak Flat in June 2022 and the Ninth Circuit agreeing to rehear the case “en banc” in front of a larger panel of 11 judges, the Ninth Circuit decided to continue with the land transfer in a 5-4 vote.

After unsuccessfully asking all 29 judges on the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case, Apache Stronghold filed its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 11 via a courier.

Apache Stronghold and its allies then hosted a day of prayer on the steps outside the Supreme Court after “two months following in the footsteps of the Spirit from the West,” which included a September stop in Alabama.

Now, Apache Stronghold must wait for at least four Supreme Court justices to hear the case for the appeal to move forward. If the court agrees to hear the appeal, oral arguments would be held in the Court’s 2024-25 term, which begins this month, with a potential decision expected in about June 2025.

This story is part of O’odham Action News’ ongoing coverage of Oak Flat.