The justices left in place lower court decisions allowing the transfer of the Tonto National Forest land, known as Oak Flat, to Resolution Copper, which plans to mine what it says is the second-largest known copper deposit in the world.
The Trump administration has said it will push to complete the transfer.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in dissent that it was a “grievous mistake” not to take up the appeal.
“Recognizing Oak Flat’s significance, the government has long protected both the land and the Apaches’ access to it,” Gorsuch wrote, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. “No more. Now, the government and a mining conglomerate want to turn Oak Flat into a massive hole in the ground.”
What an I missing here… Alito recused himself from this request. And Gorsuch(!) and Thomas(!!!) were part of five justices who dissented to the decision and wanted to hear the case. How did 3 justices manage to dismiss it when 5 justices wanted to hear the case? Its it different from the simple majority when it comes to hearing a case rather than deciding on a case?
The 5 judges were from the lower court’s dissent. It wasn’t 5 justices at the Supreme Court. It takes 4 Supreme Court justices to grant cert on a case and hear it. It sounds like only Gorsuch and Thomas voted to hear it.
Gorsuch is arguably the most pro-Native American justice the court has ever seen. He started his majority opinion in McGirt v. Oklahoma with this sentence “On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise.”
Thomas and Gorsuch joined Alito in a 77 page dissent, in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia explicitly calling to overturn a prior case that infringed on Native American’s religious liberties by denying benefits to a peyote user.
Okay, that makes more sense. Thanks for the explanation.
I’m glad to help, headlines and sadly even the body of news articles rarely capture nuance. Law and Politics both have their controversies but they are not synonyms. When you peek behind the curtains of headlines, things start to make more sense, because, most everyone thinks that they’re being rational. But most of us are simply viewing the matters from different perspectives. There are bad perspectives, but, unfortunately, there is not a best one.
I read somewhere that the liberal justices were concerned about the religious precedent being used.
I hate how valid a concern is.
There’s a joke about a Navajo man watching the Apollo astronauts do their desert training.
He tells them a phrase in his language to give to anyone they might meet on the moon that roughly translated to “don’t trust these white assholes they’re just here to steal your land.”
Congress approved a land swap in 2014 that would give Resolution Copper 3.75 square miles (9.71 square kilometers) of forest land in return for eight parcels it owns in Arizona.
Feels like an important piece of the story that is buried down near the bottom.
Probably happened without any consultation with the tribe. Typical settler ways still rule America.
Assholes
Copper is an important material. What’s the importance of some faith nuances of Apaches?
How about the fact that we keep giving them land for them to have, live on, and control, and then we rip it away from them as soon as we want something in it? Natives are only left alone on land with no value, because as soon as value is found, we steal it back. Just look at the Osage murders; and that’s only one time it happened.
I’m not saying I agree with the other commenter, specially in the tone, but… where do you think the copper inside your walls comes from? Is this a NIMBY or are you proposing we abandon electricity altogether?
Mining is super messy, all of it. For the environment, the people living in surrounding areas, the workers… I think it was just yesterday I read an article about copper mining in Chile: polluted waterways, lots of orphans when a mine collapsed, people sick, others displaced from their homes… you know real actual problems, not some superstition.
Couldn’t we get the copper without fucking so many people so bad? Certainly, but that would affect profits so it’s not happening.
looks at what electricity is used for currently
I meannnnnn
Copper should be mined. There is no reason to keep it intact. Natives or not.
What a garbage take.
Awh man… They’re infiltrating Lemmy again. :(
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