Native American loses lawsuit over Eagle feathers. (Around the States).A federal appeals court has turned down a Native American's religious liberty challenge to his conviction for violating an endangered species act The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (16 U.S.C.A. §§ 1531 et seq.) was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation. . In a Jan. 31 ruling, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the religious liberty rights of Leonard Fridall Terry Antoine, a member of a Canadian Indian tribe INDIAN TRIBE. A separate and distinct community or body of the aboriginal Indian race of men found in the United States. 2. Such a tribe, situated within the boundaries of a state, and exercising the powers of government and, sovereignty, under the national , were not infringed when he was found guilty of violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA BGEPA Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act ). The act makes it illegal for anyone to "knowingly ... take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, at any time or in any manner, any bald eagle," or parts of bald eagles. Antoine was arrested and charged with violating the BGEPA after he was caught smuggling smuggling, illegal transport across state or national boundaries of goods or persons liable to customs or to prohibition. Smuggling has been carried on in nearly all nations and has occasionally been adopted as an instrument of national policy, as by Great Britain eagle parts into the country and then selling them. Antoine argued before the courts that his exchanges of eagle parts for money were part of a native custom called "potlatch," which holds religious meaning. In its U.S. v. Leonard Fridall Terry Antoine decision, the 9th Circuit noted that the government's interest in "protecting eagles as a threatened or endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. " outweighs the harm done to Antoine's religious practices. "The government has a compelling interest in eagle protection that justifies limiting supply to eagles that pass through the repository, even though religious demand exceeds supply as a result," wrote Judge Alex Kozinski for the 9th Circuit. |
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