Employment Division, Dept. of Human Resources of the State of Oregon et al. v. Smith.

In this April 17, 1990, decision, the US Supreme Court adopted a narrow interpretation of the free exercise clause, allowing Oregon to apply its drug laws to prohibit Native Americans from using peyote Peyote religion in religious ceremonies. Alfred Smith and Galen Black, two members of the Native American Church Native American Church , were fired from their jobs in a drug rehabilitation clinic after their employer discovered that they used the hallucinogenic drug peyote during religious rituals. Religion, free exercise of;and Native American Church[Native American Church] They applied for unemployment compensation, but Oregon’s Department of Human Resources denied their claims based on a state law that disqualified employees who were discharged for work-related “misconduct.” A state appellate court and the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the denial of benefits was a violation of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. First Amendment Oregon appealed to the US Supreme Court, contending that Smith’s free exercise of religion had to be balanced by the state’s interest in preventing the use of harmful drugs. The Supreme Court’s first judgment was to remand the case to the Oregon Supreme Court to decide whether state law made an exception for the religious use of peyote. Oregon’s court responded that state law provided no exception and that the only issue was the religious freedom of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court accepted the case for a second time. Peyote religion Employment Division, Dept. of Human Resources of the State of Oregon et al. v. Smith[Employment Division, Dept. of Human Resources of the State of Oregon et al. v. Smith]