Free Exercise and the Resurgence of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Abstract

This article considers the development of protections of the Free Exercise of Religion, initially under the First Amendment, and later, following Congress’s discontent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The article discusses how this development resulted in the Court’s controversial split decision in the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby in 2014, and considers why commentators take such diverse views of that case.