Join the Native American Law Students Association and Notre Dame Law School's Religious Liberty Initiative for an important discussion about upholding religious liberty protections for Oak Flat, a site in Arizona that has been sacred to the Apache people for centuries and is being threatened by a massive copper mining operation. The discussion will be led by Professor Stephanie Barclay, faculty director of the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative. Professor Barclay participated in oral argument before the en banc Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, California last March, where she represented as amici the National Congress of American Indians, an Apache tribal elder, and other groups that protect Native American cultural heritage and rights.
Apache Stronghold v. United States was one of the first cases that the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Clinic supported when the Clinic was newly established in the 2020-21 academic year. For the past two years, faculty and students from Notre Dame Law School have stood with members of the Apache tribe to protect Oak Flat. The Apache have gone to the sacred land for generations to worship, pray, and conduct religious ceremonies. The site is also sacred to various other Native American tribes, including the ancestors of today’s O’odham, Hopi, Zuni, and Yavapai tribes.
Chick-fil-A will be provided at the event.
Originally published at religiousliberty.nd.edu.