Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) (U.S. Supreme Court)
Employment Division v. Smith is a cornerstone Free Exercise Clause decision that reshaped the constitutional framework for religious liberty claims.
Does the Free Exercise Clause require a state to provide a religious exemption from a neutral, generally applicable criminal law prohibiting peyote, and thereby preclude the denial of unemployment benefits to employees fired for violating that law due to religious use?
The Free Exercise Clause does not relieve an individual from complying with a neutral, generally applicable law that incidentally burdens religious practice. Strict scrutiny under the compelling interest test is not triggered merely because a law burdens religion. Heightened scrutiny applies when a law targets religious conduct, when the regulatory scheme involves individualized assessments that invite discrimination against religious reasons, or when free exercise is combined with other constitutional protections.
No. The Free Exercise Clause does not require Oregon to provide a religious exemption from its neutral, generally applicable prohibition on peyote, and Oregon could deny unemployment benefits to employees terminated for violating that law.
Smith is the leading case establishing that neutral, generally applicable laws need not accommodate religious practice under the Free Exercise Clause. It narrowed the reach of Sherbert and reframed Free Exercise doctrine around neutrality and general applicability. The decision prompted Congress to enact RFRA to reimpose a statutory compelling interest test; RFRA still binds the federal government, while, after City of Boerne v. Flores, it does not bind the states absent state RFRAs or state constitutional protections. Smith also set the stage for Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, which invalidated laws targeting religion, and informs modern cases about individualized exemptions and neutrality, including Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. For law students, Smith is essential to understanding the baseline constitutional standard, the role of political and statutory accommodations, and the contours of when strict scrutiny is triggered in Free Exercise cases.