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Native American Religion Cases

  • Apache Stronghold v. United States (2025) 

On May 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court in Apache Stronghold v. United States, 605 U.S. ____ (2025), denied certiorari to a decision from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed the government to permit a mining conglomerate to turn a large portion of an Apache worship site at Oak Flat, Arizona, into

  • Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990)

Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith
(1990) greatly changed First Amendment religious free exercise law,
abandoning the compelling interest test.

  • Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association (1988)

Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association (1988) said that
building a road through sacred Native American sites did not violate the
First Amendment.

  • Quick Bear v. Leupp (1908)

Quick Bear v. Leupp (1908) ruled that expenditures from Native American
treaty trust funds for Catholic schools on reservations did not violate the
First Amendment.

ABOUT US

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The Free Speech Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy center dedicated to building understanding of the five freedoms of the First Amendment through education, information and engagement.

freespeechcenter@mtsu.edu

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FEATURE POSTS

A century after Scopes was convicted of teaching evolution, the debate on religion in schools rages

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Woodhull Foundation on Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton: Its meaning and impact

Self-censorship and the ‘spiral of silence’: Why Americans are less likely to publicly voice their opinions on political issues

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