SALT LAKE CITY—A federal judge has ruled two non-Indians can possess eagle feathers for religious purposes.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson says the government ban on the possession of eagle feathers by non-Indians is too restrictive.
Benson ruled Tuesday but didn’t overturn the convictions of Samuel Wilgus Jr. and Raymond Hardman, both of Utah, who were convicted in separate cases of possessing feathers without a permit.
Benson ruled narrowly on instructions from the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to decide if the government’s ban was the least restrictive way to protect eagles—that’s a test of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The feathers are available only to Indians from a national repository in Colorado that strips feathers from eagles found dead.
