Number: RL32514
Title: Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA): An Overview
Authors: Cynthia Brougher and Todd Garvey, American Law Division 
Abstract: The constitutional standard by which laws that burden an individual's First Amendment right to exercise his religion are measured has evolved over the last halfcentury through U.S. Supreme Court decisions and legislative action by Congress in response to those decisions. After decades of requiring that laws burdening the free exercise of religion be subject to heightened judicial review, the Court reinterpreted that constitutional standard in the 1990 case of Employment Division v. Smith, deciding that the First Amendment provided narrower protection than the Court had previously recognized. In Smith, the Court held that the strict scrutiny standard of review, which required a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means, did not apply to neutral laws that applied to society generally. Under Smith, heightened review (sometimes referred to as strict scrutiny) applies only to cases that involve religious claims for exemption in programs that allow for individualized assessments, cases that involve deliberate governmental targeting of religion, or cases in which a Free Exercise claim is joined with another constitutional claim.
Pages: 11
Date: October 20, 2008