The CHILD Litigation

[Michael McConnell]

Apropos of the CHILD, Inc. case:

After Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n, Congress
passed a bill cutting off funding for the G-O road. The statute thus
accommodated the Indian religion in that case, with no "guarantee"
(to use the Sup. Ct.'s word in Kiryas Joel) that it would extend
similar accommodation to similarly affected religious groups in the
future. It is hard to see how Congress could have accomplished this
in a "sect-neutral" fashion (at least without ceding power over
federal land management to the courts), nor would RFRA apply.

My question: Does anyone on this list think Congress's action was
unconstitutional? How is it distinguishable from Kiryas Joel, or the
CHILD case?-- Michael McConnell (U of Utah)