Navajos' Free Exercise Claim Rejected

In Benally v. Kaye, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39751 (D. AZ, Sept. 8, 2005), decided last September by an Arizona federal district court and recently made available, the court rejected free exercise of religion and RFRA claims by a group of Navajo Indians who were prevented from holding a 3-day Sundance Festival on land belonging to the Hopi Indian Tribe. Plaintiffs claimed that tribal law enforcement officers, the Navajo County Sheriffs Office, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs all violated their free exercise of religion rights by restricting their access to the site of the religious celebration. The court, however, held that there was no right to practice one's religion on property belonging to someone else.