ABSTRACT
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith was a case that raised issues of an individual's freedom to practice religion as desired, a right set forth in the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The Oregon Court of Appeals held that the denial of unemployment compensation violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The US Supreme Court reversed this decision with Justice Antonin Scalia writing for the majority. In Employment Division v. Smith, Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, found the Sherbert test unacceptable because it required judges to "weigh the social importance of all laws against the centrality of all religious beliefs." Most notably, the US Congress attempted to reinstate the Sherbert test by passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
