Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith was decided by the US Supreme Court in 1990 after two counselors were fired, and then denied unemployment benefits, for ingesting peyote at a Native American Church sacrament. The Court held that a neutral, generally applicable law is not subject to a religious exemption under the Free Exercise Clause, denying the claim. The ruling drew wide criticism across religious traditions and led Congress to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993 to restore a stronger standard, making it one of the most consequential religious liberty rulings of the twentieth century.
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Where It Is RecordedReported at 494 U.S. 872 (1990) in the United States Reports. 1 How Its Legacy Is ContestedCriticized broadly across the political and religious spectrum for narrowing free exercise protection, the decision prompted Congress to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993; the Supreme Court then held in City of Boerne v. Flores (1997) that RFRA could not bind the states, leaving Smith's rule in force there while RFRA continues to apply against the federal government. 2 The Event
When It Happened Where It HappenedWashington, D.C., the Supreme Court of the United States; the underlying dismissal and denial of unemployment benefits arose in Oregon. 1 Principal PartiesAlfred Smith and Galen Black, members of the Native American Church dismissed from a private drug rehabilitation counseling job for ingesting peyote sacramentally; Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion. 1 Consequences
What It SettledThe Court denied the free exercise claim, holding that a neutral, generally applicable law needs no religious exemption; the criticism it drew led Congress to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993. 1 Status
Legal StatusEstablished that a neutral, generally applicable law needs no religious exemption under the Free Exercise Clause, commonly called the Smith test; the decision did not hold that no free exercise claim can ever succeed, only that this one required no special scrutiny. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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