Tribal councilman Wendsler Nosie, Sr. speaks with Apache activists in a rally to save Oak Flat, land near Superior, Arizona, sacred to Western Apache tribes, in front of the US Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 22, 2015. Molly Riley/AP

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to step into a fight over a land transfer in Arizona that the Western Apache people  say will destroy a sacred site  in order to build a massive copper mine.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the decision to deny the case.

The federal government had been prepared to transfer the site earlier this year but a federal appeals court in August halted the transaction and scheduled arguments in a separate lawsuit.

Congress approved the transfer of the federal property in the Tonto National Forest in 201

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