Perez v. City of San Antonio (5th Cir.)

This case concerns a particular bend in the Yanaguana—known as the San Antonio River in English—where generations of Lipan-Apache people have gathered for prayer and worship. That river bend is central to the Yanaguana creation story, and is the only place in the world where certain religious ceremonies involving the river, sacred trees, and nesting cormorants above may be performed. A proposed retaining-wall restoration project by the City of San Antonio threatens to destroy the trees and disrupt the spiritual ecology of the site, which is of great spiritual significance to many Indigenous tribes.

Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic filed amicus briefs on behalf of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers and Carol Logan, an elder of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, in support of two plaintiffs who seek to protect the sacred site. The Clinic’s briefs urged the courts to reject an artificially narrow interpretation of Texas laws protecting religious freedom that would specifically disfavor Native sacred sites.

The Fifth Circuit initially ruled against the plaintiffs, but it later withdrew its opinion and certified a question of state law to the Supreme Court of Texas. In June 2025, the Texas Supreme Court interpreted for the first time a 2021 amendment to the Texas Constitution that protects religious services, determining that it does not extend to governmental actions for the preservation and management of public lands. The Fifth Circuit then again rejected plaintiffs’ claims.

Read Our Briefs

• Amicus Brief (Tex.) (Dec. 2, 2024)
• Amicus Brief (5th Cir.) (Nov. 17, 2023)