In a shocking 1990 decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Native American Church lost its right to practice its religion. Up to that point, the courts had held that the government could not deny one’s First Amendment right unless it could demonstrate a “compelling state interest.” But in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (Alfred Leo Smith was a member of the Klamath Nation who was fired from his job when he refused to stop attending Native American Church meetings), Scalia threw out the compelling state interest standard. Calling America’s religious
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