Freedom of Religion

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the "Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah" Supreme Court decision of 1993 and its significance to the issue of freedom of religion. In particular, it discusses the legal rationale informing the High Court's final decision and the strength of the final decision. It also briefly describes the relationship of the case to previous court precedents. Finally, the paper analyzes the legal and political repercussions of the ruling and looks at the current status of the law.

From the Paper:

"As an important addendum to what has been written thus far, it must be noted that the "strength" of the final decision was fairly conclusive: despite three concurrences by Justices Scalia, Souter and Blackmun and a separate opinion by Kennedy, the final Court decision appears to have been a unanimous one - although the concurrences are interesting to read more than thirteen years after their original publication inasmuch as they show curious divergences among the Justices vis-a-vis certain subtleties in the interpretation of constitutional freedoms/protections for religious groups. Most notably, Justice Scalia opposed Section Two of Part II-A of the Court's opinion on the grounds that it paid scant attention to the fact that "neutral" or "generally applicable" laws can also be laws that target a particular religion for invidious distinction and discriminatory treatment. Nonetheless, one would be hard-pressed to argue that the presiding Justices disagreed on the fundamental question of whether or not the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye was a victim of discrimination."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 531 (1993).
• Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993). Available at <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=508&invol=520> (last visited Oct. 30, 2006)
• Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993). Available at <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&friend=nytimes&court=US&case=/us/508/520.html> (last visited Oct. 30, 2006).
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993). Available at <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-948.ZO.html>
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993). (J. Scalia Concurring). Available at <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-948.ZC.html>

More papers on Freedom of Religion:

• Analytical Essay # 142453 : "Freedom of Religion"
• Term Paper # 116983 : "Freedom of Religion and the First Amendment"
• Essay # 45700 : "Freedom of Religion"

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