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The legal fight over the future of a sacred Native American religious site at San Antonio's Brackenridge Park is now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
First Liberty Institute and the University of Texas School of Law's Law and Religion Clinic have filed a petition asking the nation's highest court to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which upheld a lower court ruling allowing the City of San Antonio to proceed with a portion of its Brackenridge Park redevelopment project.
The case centers on an area near the San Antonio River that members of the Lipan Native American Church say has been a place of worship for centuries. Church leaders argue the city's plans to remove heritage trees and use bird-deterrent measures that would drive away nesting cormorants would permanently alter the site's "spiritual ecology" and make it impossible to practice their religion there. The Fifth Circuit acknowledged the sincerity of the church's religious beliefs but determined the project does not substantially burden the church's religious exercise.
Stephanie Taub is special counsel with First Liberty Institute and said the city failed to consider alternatives that would have protected the sacred site while still allowing the redevelopment project to proceed.
"The government allowing the city to bulldoze a sacred Native American site is an imposition on religious beliefs that can only be done if there aren't any other alternatives, and here there were other ways to make it work, and the city just didn't address them," said Taub.
Attorneys for the church argue the city could complete the project using less destructive alternatives that would preserve the sacred site while still addressing infrastructure needs. Their petition also contends that courts cannot substitute their own judgment for sincerely held religious beliefs by concluding worship could simply take place somewhere else.
The dispute stems from San Antonio's long-planned Brackenridge Park bond project, first approved by voters in 2017. The city says the work is needed to stabilize historic river walls, rehabilitate infrastructure, improve public access and restore portions of the park. Earlier this year, city officials said phase one of the project remained delayed while awaiting federal permits, while phase two continued through the city's historic review process. Previous rulings by both the Texas Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit cleared legal obstacles to the project, although litigation continued through the federal appeals process.
Construction at the park has begun on a separate, nearly $10 million, two-acre nature-based playscape near the Witte Museum and Lambert Beach area, which is expected to open in summer 2027.
On its website, the Lipan Native American Church describes the Brackenridge Park riverbend as a sacred place where ceremonies remain connected to the landscape, the trees and the birds that have long been part of the church's religious traditions. Church leaders have maintained throughout the case that those elements cannot be separated from their worship. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide in the coming months whether it will hear the appeal.
Taub argues that the court has been clear in past cases that it's not the job of judges to tell you what your religion requires.
“So for them to say that 'no, it doesn't burden your religious beliefs, and it would be religiously the same for you to worship somewhere else,' that is a violation of the law,” said Taub.
