Michalyn Steele on Why the Progeny of Bowen v. Roy Changed Her View of the Original 1986 Case

Michalyn Steele (BYU Law School) discusses Bowen v. Roy (1986) and other SCOTUS decisions regarding Native American spirituality. While she initially accepted the “neutral and uniformly applicable” rationale behind the 1986 case, Steele now questions the Court’s adherence to First Amendment values in this line of cases.

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Two Words: Why Frank Ravitch No Longer Supports the Overturning of Employment Division v. Smith

In its landmark 1990 decision Employment Division v. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause does not require religious exemptions to neutral and generally applicable laws, even if those laws incidentally burden religious practice. Over the years, Smith has been criticized for its insensitivity and harm to religious needs and rights, particularly those of religious minorities. Frank S. Ravitch (Michigan State University College of Law) explains why he no longer supports the overturning of Smith.

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Religious Freedom and the Courts

James T. Richardson is Emeritus Foundation Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies, University of Nevada, Reno.

This post is part of a series on the sociology of religious freedom.

A Sociology of Religious Freedom, coauthored by Olga Breskaya, Giuseppe Giordan, and James T. Richardson, offers in part a sociological perspective on the theoretical underpinnings of the role played by the courts, especially in Western societies, in determining the meaning and implementation of religious freedom. It first explicates how and why this crucial role for the courts has evolved in recent decades and then explores specific trends and landmark cases in major judicial systems in the United States and in Western Europe, focusing on the role courts have played in the protection of religious freedom.

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