Cite as: 521 U. S. 507 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.*
A decision by local zoning authorities to deny a church a building permit was challenged under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA or Act), 107 Stat. 1488, 42 U. S. C. § 2000bb et seq. The case calls into question the authority of Congress to enact RFRA. We conclude the statute exceeds Congress' power.
I
Situated on a hill in the city of Boerne, Texas, some 28 miles northwest of San Antonio, is St. Peter Catholic Church. Built in 1923, the church's structure replicates the mission
Christ of Latter-day Saints by W. Cole Durham, Jr., James A. Serritella, James C. Geoly, Kevin R. Gustafson, and Von G. Keetch; for the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion by Marc D. Stern, Oliver S. Thomas, J. Brent Walker, Melissa Rogers, Steven T. McFarland, Samuel Rabinove, Richard Foltin, David Zwiebel, Steven R. Shapiro, Steven K. Green, and Jack F. Trope; for the Defenders of Property Rights et al. by Nancie G. Marzulla; for the Minnesota Family Council et al. by Jordan W. Lorence; for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., by Elaine R. Jones, Theodore M. Shaw, and Norman J. Chachkin; for the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom by William Bentley Ball and Richard E. Connell; for the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs by Nathan Lewin, Mathew S. Nosanchuk, and Dennis Rapps; for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States by John H. Beisner and Elizabeth S. Merritt; for the Prison Fellowship Ministries et al. by Michael Joseph Woodruff, Scott J. Ward, J. Matthew Szymanski, Stephen M. Clarke, and Isaac M. Jaroslawicz; and for the United States Catholic Conference et al. by Michael W. McConnell, Mark E. Chopko, and Jeffrey Hunter Moon.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the State of Texas by Dan Morales, Attorney General, Jorge Vega, First Assistant Attorney General, and Samuel W. Goodhope and Javier Aguilar, Special Assistant Attorneys General; for the Center for the Community Interest by Gilbert R. Serota; for Children's Healthcare is a Legal Duty, Inc., et al. by Robert J. Bruno; for the Knights of Columbus by Thomas D. Yannucci and Carl A. Anderson; for the Rutherford Institute by John W. Whitehead, James A. Hayes, Jr., and Brian L. Day; and by Thurston Greene, pro se.
*Justice Scalia joins all but Part III-A-1 of this opinion.
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