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Church Of The Lukumi Babalu Aye V. City Of Hialeah, Paul L. Bader

Mercer Law Review

In Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, a Florida district court has gone further than any other federal court in proscribing a church's right to exercise its religious beliefs. The district court found that the city's interests in public health, child welfare, and animal welfare were sufficient to override the protection provided under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. After the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in an unpublished opinion the Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether the First Amendment protects a religion's practice of animal sacrifice. The Supreme Court has …