Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 47 (1993)

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566

CHURCH OF LUKUMI BABALU AYE, INC. v. HIALEAH

Opinion of Souter, J.

ercise: " 'only those interests of the highest order and those not otherwise served can overbalance legitimate claims to the free exercise of religion.' " McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U. S., at 628 (plurality opinion) (quoting Yoder, supra, at 215). Compare McDaniel, supra, at 628-629 (plurality opinion) (applying that test to a law aimed at religious conduct) with Yoder, supra, at 215-229 (applying that test to a formally neutral, general law). Other cases in which the Court has applied heightened scrutiny to the enforcement of formally neutral, generally applicable laws that burden religious exercise include Hernandez v. Commissioner, supra, at 699; Frazee v. Illinois Dept. of Employment Security, 489 U. S. 829, 835 (1989); Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, supra, at 141; Bob Jones Univ. v. United States, 461 U. S. 574, 604 (1983); United States v. Lee, 455 U. S. 252, 257-258 (1982); Thomas, supra, at 718; Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U. S. 398, 403 (1963); and Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 304-307 (1940).

Though Smith sought to distinguish the free-exercise cases in which the Court mandated exemptions from secular laws of general application, see 494 U. S., at 881-885, I am not persuaded. Wisconsin v. Yoder, and Cantwell v. Connecticut, according to Smith, were not true free-exercise cases but "hybrid[s]" involving "the Free Exercise Clause in conjunction with other constitutional protections, such as freedom of speech and of the press, or the right of parents . . . to direct the education of their children." Smith, supra, at 881, 882. Neither opinion, however, leaves any doubt that "fundamental claims of religious freedom [were] at stake." Yoder, supra, at 221; see also Cantwell, supra, at 303-307.4

4 Yoder, which involved a challenge by Amish parents to the enforcement against them of a compulsory school attendance law, mentioned the parental rights recognized in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510 (1925), as Smith pointed out. See Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S., at 881, n. 1 (citing Yoder, 406 U. S., at 233). But Yoder did so only to distinguish Pierce, which involved a

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