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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Responding To Smith; Reconsidering Reynolds, Keith Jaasma
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Responding To Smith; Reconsidering Reynolds, Keith Jaasma
Keith Jaasma
This comment examines the cae of Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, and Congress' response to that decision in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Comment further examines whether the Supreme Court's 1879 Decision in Reynolds v. United States, which upheld laws against polygamy in the Utah Territory, would continue to be viable in light of the RFRA and Free Excercise Clause cases that have been decided since.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: The Constitutional Significance Of An Unconstitutional Statute, Daniel O. Conkle
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: The Constitutional Significance Of An Unconstitutional Statute, Daniel O. Conkle
Articles by Maurer Faculty
This article addresses the constitutionality and the constitutional significance of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), through which Congress, relying on Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, attempted to repudiate the Supreme Court's restrictive interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause, as announced in Employment Division v. Smith, and to adopt in its place a more generous regime of religious freedom. The article advances two major propositions. First, it contends that despite the Act's noble purpose, RFRA circumvents the process of constitutional amendment, frustrates the Supreme Court's role as the primary interpreter of the Constitution, and improperly intrudes on …