A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court last week in Perez v. City of San Antonio, (Sup. Ct., cert. filed 6/26/2026). In the case, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision affirmed a trial court's refusal to enjoin San Antonio's development plan for a city park. Plaintiffs are members of the Lipan-Apache Native American Church. Certain of their religious ceremonies can take place only at a particular river bend in the park and require the presence of cormorants in the trees there. The development plan will remove trees and modify bird habitats. (See prior posting. and 5th Circuit's amended opinion.) The petition for review sets out the Questions Presented as:
1. Whether the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment permit courts, when deciding whether government action burdens religious exercise, to override a claimant’s sincere theological judgment of what the religious exercise requires.
2. Whether the government can satisfy its burden to prove that its action is the least religiously restrictive means available when, after notice that its action would burden religious exercise, the government admits that it failed to consider any workable alternatives prior to litigation.
First Liberty Institute issued a press release announcing the filing of the petition.
