News Release
For Immediate Release: 6.29.26
Contact: Natalie Konstans, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4454
Texas Native American Tribe Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Protect Sacred Religious Land
Case out of Fifth Circuit challenges city of San Antonio plan to unnecessarily redevelop area the Lipan Native American Church has worshiped on for centuries.
Washington, D.C.—First Liberty Institute and the University of Texas School of Law’s Law and Religion Clinic filed a petition at the Supreme Court of the United States asking the Justices to reverse a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that affirmed a lower court’s decision to allow the city of San Antonio to destroy and redevelop a Native American sacred religious site.
You can read the petition here.
“San Antonio can redevelop the area without bulldozing a centuries old native American religious site,” stated Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “The Lipan church relies on the unique spiritual ecology of the ancient riverbend. The city telling them they can ‘just go worship elsewhere’ is nothing short of the government redefining their religious beliefs.”
“Bulldozing a religious site is the definition of burdening religious practice,” said Professor Steven T. Collis, director of the UT Law and Religion Clinic. “Both the courts and the city are aware that our clients can worship nowhere else but this site, yet both have told them they are mistaken in their religious beliefs and can just go somewhere else. That violates the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, as does refusing to do available, less-destructive alternatives.”
For centuries, numerous tribes have worshipped at a sacred site in San Antonio near the San Antonio River in an area now identified as Brackenridge Park. Native American artifacts dating back several thousand years identifying the park as one of the most significant archeological sites in Texas and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Antiquities Landmark. Throughout the site’s long history, indigenous peoples gathered there for ceremonies, seasonal meetings, access to fresh water, and spiritual observances linked to the springs. The site is central to modern Lipan Native American Church traditions.
The city of San Antonio planned a significant city redevelopment project for Brackenridge Park that would remove heritage trees and aggressively deter nesting migratory birds, including cormorants, that are central to the tribe’s religious beliefs and practices. Gary Perez and Matilde Torres, ceremonial leaders of the Lipan Native American Church, allege that the city’s plan to alter Brackenridge Park, including removing trees and using disruptive methods to drive away birds, substantially burdens their religious freedoms. They requested the city redevelop the site without destroying their religion. The city refused, telling the church they could engage in their religious practices elsewhere. The district court determined Perez’s and Torres’s religious beliefs to be sincere but not substantially burdened. The Texas Supreme Court sided with the city and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused to prevent the city’s destruction of the sacred site.
In the petition, attorneys argue, “Courts are not arbiters of theological truth. The Free Exercise Clause forbids courts from overruling a religious practitioner’s beliefs, while the Establishment Clause prohibits government officials from announcing religious dogma. This Court has long recognized that interpreting religious doctrine is ‘not within the judicial function and judicial competence.’ Thomas v. Review Bd. of Indiana Employment Sec. Div., 450 U.S. 707, 716 (1981).”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact Natalie Konstans at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4454.
