The Apache tribe in Arizona is taking a fight with the federal government and copper producers to the Supreme Court, which they hope will protect what they say is their religious rights to sacred ground. 

Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group representing the tribe’s interests, is fighting to preserve Oak Flat — what the Apaches say is their ‘direct corridor to the Creator and the locus of sacred ceremonies that cannot take place elsewhere.’

According to the petition filed at the high court, the government ‘has long protected Apache rituals there.’

‘But because copper was discovered beneath Oak Flat, the government decided to transfer the site to Respondent Resolution Copper for a mine that will undisputedly destroy Oak Flat — swallowing it in a massive crater and ending sacred Apache rituals forever.’ 

Apache Stronghold argues that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Free Exercise Clause forbids the government to do so and are asking it to reverse a lower court decision.

‘In a fractured en banc ruling cobbled together from two separate 6-5 majorities, the Ninth Circuit rejected both claims. Although the court acknowledged that destroying Oak Flat would ‘literally prevent’ the Apaches from engaging in religious exercise, it nevertheless concluded that doing so would not ‘substantially burden’ their religious exercise under RFRA, relying on this Court’s pre-RFRA decision in Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association,’ the petition states. 

‘And while the majority acknowledged that singling out Oak Flat for destruction is ‘plainly not ‘generally applicable,’ it rejected the free-exercise claim ‘for the same reasons’ — no substantial burden,’ it continues. 

Oak Flat is a 6.7-square-mile sacred site east of Superior, Arizona. The site includes old-growth oak groves, sacred springs, burial locations and a singular concentration of archaeological sites testifying to its persistent use for the past 1,500 years, the Apache’s argue. 

Wendsler Nosie of the Apache Stronghold described it as the Mount Sinai of their faith. 

‘That’s where our ceremonial ways have been born, the identity of who we are, and the continuing of who we are as people, to how we’re created and how we’re placed onto this earth.’ Nosie said in an interview with Fox News Digital. ‘The meaning behind it is made so much more when it comes to the spirituality of an individual tied to mother earth and to the Creator.’  

‘One example is the Sunrise Ceremony, a multi-day celebration marking an Apache girl’s entry into womanhood,’ the legal filing states. 

‘To prepare, the girl gathers plants from Oak Flat that contain ‘the spirit of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel.’  As she gathers, she speaks to the spirit of Oak Flat, expressing gratitude for its resources. Ibid. Her godmother dresses her in ‘the essential tools of . . . becoming a woman,’ and tribal members surround her with singing, dancing, and prayer.’ 

According to the filing, in 1995, a large copper deposit was discovered 4,500 to 7,000 feet beneath Oak Flat. Hoping to obtain the deposit, two large multinational mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP, formed a joint venture called Resolution Copper. From 2005 to 2013, congressional supporters of Resolution Copper introduced at least twelve standalone bills to transfer Oak Flat to the company, but each one failed. 

In 2014, Republican Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake attached the land-transfer bill to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), authorizing the transfer of a 2,422-acre parcel including Oak Flat to Resolution Copper in exchange for about 5,344 acres scattered elsewhere.

The bill revokes the presidential orders protecting Oak Flat from mining and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed mine.

Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack published the EIS on Jan. 15, 2021, which said the mine would destroy Oak Flat.

Lawyers for Becket, a nonprofit law firm that defends religious liberties and is representing Apache Stronghold, say the government is trampling their clients’ religious freedoms. 

‘They effectively say that there’s a carve-out from RFRA for the government’s management of federal land, that if the government makes it impossible for you to exercise your religion, that’s a substantial burden, but that rule doesn’t apply to federal land,’ Becket counsel Joe Davis explained in an interview with Fox News Digital. 

‘But there’s really no basis in the law that Congress wrote for that kind of argument,’ he said. 

‘RFRA, on its face, says that it applies to all federal law and the implementation of that law, and it says that the use of land for religious purposes is a religious exercise that the law is designed to protect.’ he said. 

The Supreme Court could decide to take up the case as soon as October. 

‘Blasting the birthplace of Apache religion into oblivion would be an egregious violation of our nation’s promise of religious freedom for people of all faiths,’ said Luke Goodrich, vice president of Becket. ‘The Court should uphold its strong record of defending religious freedom by ensuring that the Apaches can continue worshiping at Oak Flat as they have for centuries.’

A bipartisan pair of senators is introducing a new bill on the fourth anniversary of the Abraham Accords to deepen cooperation between U.S. and Middle East partners. 

The LINK Act, brought forth by Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., co-chairs of the Abraham Accords Caucus, would establish a ‘military subject matter exchange program’ to deepen cultural ties and strategic cooperation between American troops and allies in the Middle East. 

‘In the face of emboldened Iranian aggression, I’m deepening the historic partnerships created through the Abraham Accords four years ago today,’ said Ernst.

‘More cooperation among our Middle East partners is what Tehran fears. The LINK Act accomplishes this by coordinating military planning and creating a permanent and effective defense alliance. By working hand-in-hand with our partners, the strength and security of our nations grows.’

The pair of senators had three of their previous Middle East-related bills signed into law. 

The Gulf States of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain signed a normalization deal with Israel in 2020, brokered by the U.S., known as the Abraham Accords.

As part of the agreements, UAE and Bahrain recognized Israel’s sovereignty and established full diplomatic relations. It was the first time Israel had established peace with an Arab country since 1994 with the Israel-Jordan peace treaty. 

In the months that followed, Sudan and Morocco signed deals to normalize relations with Israel. 

The bill comes at a time of sky-high tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Israel and Saudi Arabia had been nearing a deal that included the U.S. and would have normalized relations when Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 

The U.S. has been bolstering its relations with nations in the Middle East to counter the growing threat of a potential nuclear Iran – even ones with mixed human rights records like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. 

The Biden administration recently lifted a hold on $320 million in military aid to Egypt that it had frozen in response to human rights concerns, bringing the total amount up to $1.3 billion transferred from Washington to Cairo this year. 

Egypt is playing a central role in the talks between Hamas and Israel about a cease-fire agreement.

Leonard Leo, who operates a vast network of conservative nonprofits, called on his groups to start ‘weaponizing’ their ideas, something he said the left has been championing over the years. 

A letter sent to groups supported by Leo’s 85 Fund on Wednesday said it would be undergoing a ‘comprehensive review’ of entities it supports, and ‘will be adjusting the extent to which it funds ideas and policy development.’ The goal, according to Leo’s letter, is to ensure their philanthropic efforts are not overly focused on ‘ideation,’ or as Leo describes it, ‘the development of and education about conservative ideas and policies.’ Rather, Leo wants his groups to adopt more aggressive tactics that ‘weaponize’ their ideas and produce more tangible results, something he suggested liberals have championed effectively for their causes.  

‘The Left built powerful networks of activists, academics, journalists, and philanthropists, along with professionals from other disciplines, who could collaborate to influence public attitudes and generate political pressure on public officials,’ Leo said. ‘They invested in talent pipelines to populate the power centers inside government, where policy would be implemented. They incubated litigation as a means of leveraging the law to produce change. And, beyond politics and law, left-wing philanthropy built or took over enormous infrastructure to control various cultural chokepoints.’

‘In contrast,’ Leo continued, ‘vastly insufficient funds are going toward operationalizing and weaponizing [conservative] ideas and policies to crush liberal dominance.’

Leo, the co-chairman and former executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a group focusing on advancing the principles of a limited, constitutional government, controls a $1.6 billion war chest.  The money was given to him by industrialist Barre Seid to fund his network of conservative groups.

Leo’s letter cited the George Soros-funded Tides Foundation and the Hansjörg Wyss-backed Arabella Advisors as examples of groups that ‘incubate action-oriented campaigns.’ He pointed to their support of nationwide NGOs like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). SJP has been at the forefront of drumming up anti-Israel sentiment at college campuses across the country since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack that killed over a thousand innocent Israelis and took hundreds hostage. Meanwhile, WPATH has been at the forefront of the transgender movement, publishing standards of care that doctors and public officials alike have used to justify ‘gender-affirming care’ for minors.

‘With donors like Hansjörg Wyss and the Arabella Advisors network having billions at their disposal, the left is able to significantly outspend the conservative movement to shift American society,’ Leo told Fox News Digital. ‘Consequently, we need to do more with less, focusing on leveraging the conservative movement’s talent to have impact, if we want to be successful.’

Leo has been credited with transforming the Federalist Society into the powerhouse lawfare organization it is today with more than 70,000 members. Meanwhile, Leo has also been considered one of the foremost influences on former President Trump’s Supreme Court nominations. Prior to Trump’s selection of Federalist Society-backed Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Leo drew up a list of potential judges that Trump released during his 2016 campaign.  

After Trump was elected, Leo stepped away from his daily duties with the Federalist Society, but remained its co-chair. Meanwhile, in 2022, Leo’s Marble Freedom Trust received a $1.6 billion gift from American businessman and GOP donor Barre Seid. Leo still has roughly $1 billion left to spend, the Financial Times reported this week after analyzing public financial disclosures. A representative for Leo declined to share how many total NGOs receive financial support from the 85 Fund. 

‘[W]e need to do more with less, focusing on leveraging the conservative movement’s talent to have impact, if we want to be successful.’

‘Expect us to increase support for organizations that call out companies and financial institutions that bend to the woke mind virus spread by regulators and NGOs, so that they have to pay a price for putting extreme left-wing ideology ahead of consumers,’ Leo said during a rare interview he granted to the Financial Times. 

Leo told the outlet that his Marble Freedom Trust has been increasingly focused on going after ‘woke’ banks and China-friendly entities across a range of sectors, such as food production and artificial intelligence. Leo also indicated he plans to invest in local media in the U.S. over the next year.  

The call from Leo for his groups to ‘operationalize’ and ‘weaponize’ their ideas has been met with anger from liberal critics. 

‘Leonard Leo’s brazen call to ‘weaponize’ the conservative movement further exposes his strategy of using his dark money network to force his right-wing agenda on everyday Americans and stack the deck in favor of the powerful few,’ said Carolina Ciccone, president of NGO watchdog Accountable.US. ‘Let’s be very clear: This isn’t just about shaping conservative thought — it’s about weaponizing the very institutions that are set up to protect the rights of everyday Americans to serve the interests of right-wing special interests.’

Jay Willis, former GQ writer and current editor-in-chief of progressive commentary website Balls & Strikes, accused Leo of trying to rebrand ‘as an Elon Musk-style culture warrior who rants about the ‘woke mind virus.’’