Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Gary Perez, et al. v. City of San Antonio, Texas
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 23-50746 · judgment December 12, 2025
(petition-stage, structural)
Roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weights this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a state or local-government respondent.
Questions presented
Gary Perez and Matilde Torres are ceremonial leaders of the Lipan Native American Church. Like their ancestors before them, they perform religious ceremonies at a specific bend of the San Antonio River now located within a municipal public park. The City of San Antonio nevertheless plans to cut down the trees around the riverbend and to drive off cormorants nesting there—permanently destroying necessary components of Petitioners’ religious services. Joining the wrong side of two circuit splits, the Fifth Circuit held that this would not “substantially burden” Petitioners’ religious exercise, despite Judge Oldham’s retort that the “burdens on plaintiffs’ religious freedoms are undeniable.” App.54a (Oldham, J., dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc). Although Petitioners explained that other locations are “not religiously effective,” the panel found no burden because Petitioners retain “virtually unlimited access” to other parts of the Park. And although Petitioners testified that the nesting of cormorants at the riverbend is religiously necessary, the panel brushed that aside because cormorants can still “nest nearby or elsewhere in the 343-acre Park.” The questions presented are:
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Whether the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment permit courts, when deciding whether government action burdens religious exercise, to override a claimant’s sincere theological judgment of what the religious exercise requires.
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Whether the government can satisfy its burden to prove that its action is the least religiously restrictive means available when, after notice that its
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Steven Timothy Collis
University of Texas School of Law
For respondent
Jane Marie Noemie Webre
Scott, Douglass & McConnico
Proceedings
- Aug 31 2026Brief amicus curiae of The Comanche Nation filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amicus curiae of The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amici curiae of Indigenous Religion Scholars filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amicus curiae of Association on American Indian Affairs filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amici curiae of Several Religious Organizations filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amicus curiae of Ethics and Public Policy Center filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amici curiae of International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, et al. filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amicus curiae of CatholicVote.org Education Fund filed.
- Aug 31 2026Brief amici curiae of The Sikh Coalition, et al. filed.
- Aug 28 2026Brief amicus curiae of Human Rights Defense Center filed.
- Aug 05 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 30, 2026.
- Aug 03 2026Brief amicus curiae of National Religious Broadcasters filed.
- Aug 03 2026Brief amicus curiae of Religious Freedom Institute filed.
- Aug 03 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 31, 2026 to September 30, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 30 2026Response Requested. (Due August 31, 2026)
- Jul 29 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
- Jul 21 2026Waiver of right of respondent City of San Antonio to respond filed.
- Jun 26 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 3, 2026)
- May 18 2026Application (25A1261) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until June 27, 2026.
- May 13 2026Application (25A1261) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from May 28, 2026 to July 27, 2026, submitted to Justice Alito.