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ACLU Strongly Supports Religious Freedom Restoration Act;

Urges Congress to Act Quickly to Restore Protections



For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 11, 1993




WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today joined

congressional sponsors and other members of the diverse coalition

formed to support the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in

calling upon Congress to act quickly in restoring full legal

protection to religious liberty.




"Passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is the most

important action that Congress can take for the free exercise of

religion since the First Congress passed the Bill of Rights,"

said ACLU Legislative Counsel Robert S. Peck.




The legislation is designed to restore the level of legal

protection that was previously enforced by the courts under the

First Amendment.




"For two centuries, the guarantees of the First Amendment has

proven to be the boldest and most successful experiment in

religious liberty the world has known," Peck added. "A disastrous

and erroneous decision by the Supreme Court three years ago has

threatened to derail that experiment and make religious freedom a

matter of legislative grace. Such an approach is inconsistent

with our constitutional heritage and the level of protection the

courts afford all other fundamental rights."




In Employment Division v. Smith (1990), the U.S. Supreme Court

rejected the traditional tests for evaluating infringements of

religious liberty and effectively read the Free Exercise Clause

out of the First Amendment. As Justice Blackmun's dissent

correctly put it, the Court's "holding dramatically departs from

well-settled First Amendment jurisprudence . . . and is

incompatible with our Nation's fundamental commitment to

individual religious liberty."  The Religious Freedom Restoration

Act attempts to restore the previous status quo, under which

religious practices must be accommodated unless a compelling

governmental interest can be demonstrated and advanced in the

least restrictive manner.




The Smith decision rejected a claim ~or unemployment benefits by

two Native Americans who had been fired from their state jobs for

the ritual use of peyote in tribal religious ceremonies. It did

so expansivsly, reaching far beyond the issue before them and

declaring that government practices and policies that are

neutrally stated and generally applicable will be upheld against

constitutional attack as long as the policies are not targeted at

religious practice. Thus, under the Court's new rules, laws

passed in ignorance or passed irrespective of their impact on

religious freedom would be deemed constitutionally valid. In

rejecting the compelling government interest standard that

previously governed these cases, Justice Scalia's majority

opinion characterized the test as a "luxury" that the nation

could no longer afford as a result of the country's growing

religious diversity.




"The Court's rationale turns the First Amendment on its head, and

guarantees judicial protection only in periods of relative

religious homogeneity," Peck said.




The Religious Freedom Restoration Act simply and elegantly

restores the compelling interest test that previously

characterized free exercise cases prior to Smith.




The ACLU applauds the leadership of Senators Edward Kennedy (D-

MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Representatives Charles Schumer

(D-NY) and Christopher Cox (R-CA) as well as the more than 150

original co-sponsors in both Houses, for their support of this

important legislation.




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