ELR Citation: 56 ELR 20028
No(s). 25-5185 (9th Cir. Mar 13, 2026)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a request for a preliminary injunction in a challenge to a land exchange that would transfer to a private mining company land in Tonto National Forest that includes a sacred tribal site and a large copper deposit. Environmental groups and tribes brought claims under the Land Exchange Act, NEPA, the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Free Exercise Clause. The court found plaintiffs' challenge to the mandated appraisal under the Land Exchange Act was not likely to succeed because it arose from a misunderstanding of how unpatented mining claims worked, that their NEPA claims were also unlikely to succeed under the deferential review the U.S. Supreme Court mandated in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, 605 U.S. 168 (2025), that they were not likely to succeed on their claim that the government failed to satisfy its consultation obligations under the Land Exchange Act and NHPA, and that precedent foreclosed their religious liberty claims. It affirmed denial of the request for a preliminary injunction.