U.S. District Judge David Sam ruled that James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney and Linda Mooney have no basis to sue Utah County because the county has taken no action against them over their use of peyote since 2004.
That was the year the Utah Supreme Court ruled the couple and other members of the Native American church, regardless of race, can legally use the hallucinogenic cactus under a federal exemption passed in 1970 that is incorporated into Utah law. James claims Seminole ancestry and Linda says she believes she has some Cherokee ancestry but neither is a member of a federally recognized tribe, a requirement to be legally allowed under federal law to use peyote.
In his ruling, issued Tuesday, Sam wrote that "there is no fact from which this court could infer or find that Utah County has an official policy that infringes upon plaintiffs' right to use peyote, as that right has been explicitly defined by the Utah Supreme Court."
The judge also threw out the Mooneys' claims against the United States and the state of Utah, saying those governmental entities have sovereign immunity against suit. In addition, the pair have failed to provide any proof that the federal government has the authority to adjudicate the type of claims they made in their lawsuit, Sam said.
The Mooneys and their attorney could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in May, stemmed from a longstanding dispute that began when police raided the Oklevueha Earthwalks church in Benjamin and seized 12,000 peyote buttons. The Mooneys, who founded the church, were charged in 4th District Court with a dozen first-degree felony counts, which were dropped after the Utah Supreme Court handed down its ruling.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, though, said the Mooneys and the non-Indian members of their church still were prohibited under federal law from possessing or using peyote. The pair were indicted in 2005 on peyote-related charges. Those charges were dropped in February after they agreed to stop using and distributing peyote.
