The Supreme Court has rejected a bid to stop work on an Arizona mine that is slated to be built on lands the Apache people hold sacred.
But the fight isn’t over, said Miles Coleman, an attorney for seven Apache women and girls who last week asked the nation’s high court to stop the federal government from handing over thousands of acres of public land to a company planning to build one of the largest underground copper mines in North America.
“The transfer and exploitation of a sacred site in the most destructive way possible is contrary to the law, the Constitution, and our best ideals as a nation,” said Coleman. “We will not flag or falter in our efforts to prevent this injustice.”
Coleman’s remarks came in response to a Thursday denial from Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan of his clients’ emergency bid to stop the land swap. Kagan oversees emergency applications that come up through litigation in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
