Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Assn.

Background

The dispute involved the Forest Service’s plan to finish a 6-mile paved segment of the Gasquet–Orleans road through the Chimney Rock area of Six Rivers National Forest and a related timber-harvesting plan. Members of three tribes and allied groups said the Chimney Rock area is a sacred “high country,” and a Forest Service study warned road building or logging would seriously harm religious practice. A federal district court enjoined the projects; the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part. Congress later designated much of the area wilderness but left a narrow strip available for the road.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the Free Exercise Clause forbids the Government from building a road or permitting timber harvesting through land traditionally used for religious practices. The Supreme Court held that the Free Exercise Clause does not give individuals a veto over the Government’s use of its own land and relied in part on Bowen v. Roy. The Court noted the Government had taken mitigation steps, concluded the Constitution does not require courts to protect every religious preference against incidental effects of government programs, reversed the portion of the lower courts’ rulings that barred the projects, and remanded for further proceedings.

Real world impact

The decision removes the constitutional obstacle that produced the permanent injunction and lets the Forest Service and other officials reconsider completion of the road and any non-wilderness timber plans. The ruling is not an automatic green light: Congress’s wilderness designation, the remand, and any further administrative or statutory steps affect what ultimately happens on the ground.

Dissents or concurrances

A dissent argued the decision ignores the severe, site-specific harm to Native religious practice and urged that land uses destroying core religious activity should receive stronger protection. It proposed a “centrality” inquiry before upholding such government projects.