Adorers of the Blood of Christ, United States Province, et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, et al.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protects the free exercise of religion by prohibiting the government from substantially burdening a person’s religious exercise and guaranteeing that individuals may assert a violation of RFRA as a claim in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief. 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1(a), (c). Federal statutory law is subject to RFRA unless specifically exempted. Id. § 2000bb-3(b). The Natural Gas Act (NGA) applies to the transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce and authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to issue orders granting applications for new pipelines. Third persons to an application must strictly comply with the NGA’s administrative procedure to obtain judicial review of an order, including intervening and requesting rehearing before FERC. 15 U.S.C. § 717r(a), (b). A circuit court then has exclusive but limited jurisdiction to “affirm, modify, or set aside” the order. Id. § 717r(b). Congress did not exempt the NGA from RFRA. The questions presented are:

1. Must a person intervene in an application and follow the required administrative procedures for objecting to proposed agency action in order to prevent the government agency from later burdening her religious exercise in violation of RFRA?

2. Does circuit court review of an administrative agency’s order satisfy RFRA’s guarantee to assert a claim in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against the government?