Indians Lose Forest Dispute

The Supreme Court ruled today that road-building and logging operations in a national forest in California do not violate Indians’ religious rights.

The court, in a 5-3 ruling by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, reversed a decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that halted a plan to upgrade a road and harvest timber because it infringed on the Indians’ First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom.

O’Connor said that, even assuming that the project will destroy the Indians’ ability to practice their religion, the “Constitution simply does not provide a principle that could justify upholding (the Indians’) legal claims.”

The case involved a portion of Six Rivers National Forest in northwestern California.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1986 found that “the high country is indispensable to a significant number of Indian healers and religious leaders as a place where they receive the ‘power’ that permits them to fill their religious roles. . . .”