The justices left in place lower court decisions allowing the transfer of the Tonto National Forest land, known as Oak Flat, to Resolution Copper, which plans to mine what it says is the second-largest known copper deposit in the world.
The Trump administration has said it will push to complete the transfer.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in dissent that it was a “grievous mistake” not to take up the appeal.
“Recognizing Oak Flat’s significance, the government has long protected both the land and the Apaches’ access to it,” Gorsuch wrote, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. “No more. Now, the government and a mining conglomerate want to turn Oak Flat into a massive hole in the ground.”
How about the fact that we keep giving them land for them to have, live on, and control, and then we rip it away from them as soon as we want something in it? Natives are only left alone on land with no value, because as soon as value is found, we steal it back. Just look at the Osage murders; and that’s only one time it happened.