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Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 485 U.S. 439

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 86-1013 Argued: November 30, 1987 Decided: April 19, 1988

Respondent
 * Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association

Peitioner
 * Richard E. Lyng, U.S Secretary of Agriculture

Chief Defense for Petitioner
 * Andrew J. Pincus

Chief Lawyer for Respondent
 * Marilyn B. Miles

Justices for the Court
 * Sandra Day O'Connor (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
 * Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall (Anthony M. Kennedy did not participate)

Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association, 485 U.S. 439 (1988), was a United States Supreme Court case. In 1982 The United States Forest Service (USFS) prepared a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for building a paved road through the Chimney Rock Area of the Six Rivers National Forest located in Northern California. The Forest Service issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that outlined several proposals for road upgrades in the area. The USFS also commissioned a study of America Indian cultural and religious sites and found that historically, the area was used by American Indian Tribes such as the Yurok, Karok, and Tolowa for religious rituals that rely on a quiet, undisturbed natural environment. The study therefore suggested the road not be completed because it would damage sacred areas beyond repair and disturb religious practices. The USFS rejected this recommendation, and also rejected suggested alternative routes outside the national. The USFS choose a route through the Chimney Rock area that was diverted from important archeological sites and areas used for religious activities. At roughly the same time, the USFS adopted a management plan allowing timber to be harvested in the same areas, again avoiding archeological and spiritual sites.

American Indian groups (led by the Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association) and the State of California sued for an injunction, challenging both the road-building and timber harvesting decisions. The court issued a permanent injunction that prohibited the Government from constructing the Chimney Rock section of the road or putting the timber harvesting plan into effect, holding, inter alia, that such actions would violate respondent Indians' rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and violate certain federal statutes.

The Trial Court found for Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association and issued an injunction. The USFS appealed. The Appellate Court affirmed and the USFS appealed again bringing the case to the Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court reversed and allowed the road to be built.

The US Supreme Court cited Bowen v. Roy (476 U.S. 693 (1986)), and in a 3-5 decision found that the Free Exercise Clause affords an individual protection from certain forms of governmental compulsions, but it does not afford an individual a right to dictate the conduct of the Government's internal procedures. In other words, government may not dictate an individual's beliefs, but it is not required to satisfy every citizen's religious needs and desires. After the case was decided, congress intervened and designated the area a “wilderness” under the Wilderness Act, the road was not built.

Related Cases

 * Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963).
 * Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).
 * Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division, 450 U.S. 707 (1981).
 * Bowen v. Roy, 476 U.S. 693 (1986).

References