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The 1971 Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution at Article I, Section 27 created individual rights to clean air, pure water, and other environmental features as well as a public trust in the Commonwealth’s public natural resources. Judicial interpretation significantly narrowed Section 27’s reach until the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Robinson Township decision in 2013 reinvigorated the Amendment. In the aftermath of Robinson Township, government officials and courts will need guidelines for how to comply with Section 27 in making and reviewing government actions and decisions. This article develops a set of concrete, practical principles for applying Section 27. It …

Historic preservation ordinances such as Philadelphia's are neutral laws of general application that do not, on their face, impose a substantial burden on the free exercise of religion. Nor do they in application, given a process for relief if designation imposes a substantial burden. It is the church's obligation to establish that designation would prevent it from carrying out its mission.