Employment Division v. Smith

What happened

Alfred Smith and Galen Black were fired from their jobs with a private drug rehabilitation organization because they ingested peyote for sacramental purposes at a ceremony of the Native American Church, of which both are members. Oregon denied them unemployment compensation because they had been discharged for work-related "misconduct." Under Oregon's controlled substance law, knowing possession of peyote was a Class B felony. This is a religious liberty case, not a land or treaty case.

The Oregon courts held the denials violated the workers' free exercise rights. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed. It held that the Free Exercise Clause "permits the State to prohibit sacramental peyote use and thus to deny unemployment benefits." The Court said the Clause does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a law that incidentally forbids an act his religion requires, if the law is not specifically directed to religious practice. It held that the Sherbert v. Verner balancing test is "inapplicable to an across-the-board criminal prohibition on a particular form of conduct."

Congress responded. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 says that in Smith the Court "virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion," and aimed to restore the compelling-interest test. A 1994 amendment to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act made peyote use by an Indian for bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes lawful and not subject to prohibition by the United States or any state.

Good to know. The case concerns religious practice, not land.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error