While it is certainly true that Smith was the catalyst for RFRA, if you are suggesting that the statute itself had a small focus, that was not the case. Those of us involved in working RFRA through Congress had a huge vision – to overturn the effects of Smith and return all free exercise cases to the vigorous protection of strict scrutiny. It was that big vision that drew together the broad, bipartisan coalition. No one was thinking of Hobby Lobby in 1991-93 – because no one at that time would have dreamed that the federal government would have required religious employers to provide abortifacients to their employees – but the case was certainly consistent with the broad vision of strong free exercise for all Americans that motivated the RFRA effort.
Brad Bradley P. Jacob<http://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/faculty_staff/jacob.cfm> Associate Professor Regent University School of Law t. 757.352.4523; f. 757.352.4571 brad...@regent.edu<mailto:brad...@regent.edu> Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/regentlaw> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/RegentLaw> | SSRN<http://www.ssrn.com/author=519370> [cid:image001.jpg@01D0F61B.F29F9940]<http://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw> -----Original Message----- From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Peabody Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 2:22 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: Zubik / Little Sisters - testing the scope via a hypothetical RFRA came into being following the Smith case which involved the smallest of religious minorities and now it's grown into this huge thing that protects the "free exercise" rights of corporations that are owned by religious people to take actions that are against the rights that their employees would otherwise get under federal law (ACA contraception for instance). . . .
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