Supreme Court Refuses to Rehear Peyote Case

The Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its recent decision in a case involving the religious use of the drug peyote.

In a one-line order issued Monday, the court denied a petition for a rehearing in Employment Division of Oregon vs. Smith, in which the court held that a state not only can prohibit the religious use of peyote but also can deny unemployment compensation to individuals dismissed from their jobs for using the drug.

A diverse coalition of religious and civil liberties organizations, along with 55 constitutional law scholars, had joined the petition asking the court to reconsider the Smith decision.

The ruling also limits application of the “compelling state interest” test to a narrow range of cases involving the free exercise of religion. The test, set forth in a 1963 Supreme Court decision, requires that governmental actions that substantially burden a religious practice must be justified by a compelling state interest.

“The denial of our petition for rehearing was disappointing, but it does not mean the battle is over,” said Oliver S. Thomas, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. “We’re already talking with a number of members of Congress and constitutional experts about a possible legislative solution to many of the problems caused by the Smith decision.”

Organizations supporting the petition for rehearing included the American Jewish Congress, American Civil Liberties Union, American Jewish Committee, Baptist Joint Committee, Christian Legal Society, American Friends Service Committee, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, National Assn. of Evangelicals, National Council of Churches, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Unitarian Universalist Assn. and Worldwide Church of God.