Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Showing posts with label American Indians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Indians. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2014
5th Circuit: Interior's Eagle Feather Rules Violate RFRA
In McAllen Grace Brethren Church v. Salazar, (5th Cir., Aug. 20, 2014), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Department of Interior had not sufficiently shown that its policy of limiting permits for the possession of eagle feathers to members of federally recognized tribes meets the strict scrutiny requiremnts of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The regulations were adopted in order to enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. At isssue was the use of eagle feathers at a powwow by a member of the Lipan Apaches which is not a federally recognized tribe. The court concluded that even if the government has a compelling interest in protecting eagles and furthering its relationship with federally recognized tribes, "the Department has not sufficiently demonstrated at this stage of the proceedings that the current regulatory framework is the least restrictive means of achieving its goals." Reuters reports on the decision.
Labels:
American Indians,
RFRA
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
Yakima Tribe Denied TRO To Prevent Wildflower Tours On Spiritual Area
In Washington state, a federal district judge has denied a temporary restraining order sought by the Yakima Nation to prevent scheduled wildflower tours this Thursday and Saturday on Rattlesnake Mountain. The mountain is a cultural and spiritual area for the Yakimas. As reported by the Tri-City Herald, the court, in a written decision, said in part:
Though the tribe certainly has a strong interest in preservation of its culture and spiritual interest, the public also has an interest in being allowed to see and experience the land, as long as precautions are taken to preserve the nature of the place.UPDATE: The full opinion in Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakama Nation v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63824 (ED WA, May 5, 2014) is now available via Lexis.
Labels:
American Indians
Monday, February 10, 2014
New Mexico Supreme Court Upholds Cultural Property Designation For Mount Taylor
In Rayellen Resources, Inc. v. New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee, (NM Sup. Ct., Feb. 6, 2014), the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the decision of the state's Cultural Properties Review Committee to recognize 400,000 acres of public land on Mount Taylor as a registered cultural property under the New Mexico Cultural Properties Act. The mountain is a sacred site for the Navajos and several other Native American tribes. The court held that it was permissible for the Committee to use federal National Register guidelines and then went on to reject arguments that the Committee has misapplied these guidelines:
the Committee made numerous findings relating to Mount Taylor’s eligibility for listing, including that the nomination satisfied three of the four possible federal criteria because Mount Taylor was associated with significant contributions to our history and with persons significant in our past, and it offers a past and potential future yield of information about our history. Although these findings undoubtedly include a religious component, because religion is part of culture and history, the findings are nonetheless based primarily on historical evidence.... [S]ubstantial evidence supports the Committee’s findings on Mount Taylor’s historic eligibility....The court, applying the Lemon test, also rejected the argument that the listing of Mount Taylor violates the Establishment Clause.
Labels:
American Indians,
New Mexico
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Foundation Buys Native American Items At Auction To Return Them To Tribes
As previously reported, last week a French court refused to stop a Paris auction house from selling 25 sacred Native American objects, despite objections from the American Embassy. It was known that one of the sacred masks was purchased by the Hopi's French lawyer who intends to return it to the tribe. Now it turns out that the other items will also go back to the tribes who claim them. In a press release this week, the Annenberg Foundation announced that it purchased the remaining 24 sacred artifacts at the auction for a total of $530,000 "for the sole purpose of returning them to their rightful owners. Twenty-one of these items will be returned to the Hopi Nation in Arizona, and three artifacts belonging to the San Carlos Apache will be returned to the Apache tribe." KUOW News has more on the story.
Labels:
American Indians,
cultural objects
Monday, December 09, 2013
Arizona Indian Tribes Seeking To Block Paris Auction Of Sacred Items
According to AFP, in France on Friday a Paris court dismissed a lawsuit attempting to stop today's auction of 25 sacred objects from the Hopi and San Carlos Apache tribes in Arizona. The judge wrote: "while the sale of these cultural objects can constitute an affront to the dignity of the Hopi tribe, this moral and philosophical consideration does not in itself give the judge the right to suspend the sale of these masks which is not forbidden in France." On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Paris issued a press release stating that it had delivered a letter to the EVE auction house on behalf of the two Indian tribes requesting a delay in the auction scheduled for Dec. 9-10 so that the tribes "might
have
the opportunity
to
identify
the
objects,
investigate
their
provenance
and
determine
whether
they
have
a
claim
to
recover
the
items
under
the
1970
UNESCO
Convention
on
the
Export
and
Transfer
of
Ownership
of
Cultural
Property,
to
which
France
is
a
signatory,
or
under
other
laws."
UPDATE: AP reports that the EVE auction house went ahead with the sale of the objects, saying that their action is legal under French law. One of the masks being auctioned was purchased by the Hopi's French lawyer who intends to return it to the tribe.
UPDATE: AP reports that the EVE auction house went ahead with the sale of the objects, saying that their action is legal under French law. One of the masks being auctioned was purchased by the Hopi's French lawyer who intends to return it to the tribe.
Labels:
American Indians,
cultural objects
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