Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990 TAG: 9004170633
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The justices, voting 6-3, said Oregon officials may deny unemployment benefits to two fired drug counselors who ingested small amounts of peyote in Indian religious ceremonies.
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said the First Amendment does not permit people to break the law in the name of religious freedom.
"We have never held that an individual's religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting the conduct that the state is free to regulate," he said.
Oregon's drug laws do not "regulate religious beliefs, the communication of religious beliefs or the raising of one's children in those beliefs," Scalia added.
In a strongly worded dissent, Justice Harry Blackmun accused the court of treating religious freedom for the first time as a "luxury" rather than "an essential element of liberty."
Today's ruling is a signal to Indians that religious freedom for unorthodox practices is "an unfulfilled and hollow promise," Blackmun said.
He was joined by Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall.
Scalia's opinion was joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Byron White, John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor provided the sixth vote to deny the unemployment benefits to the fired drug counselors.
But she said in a separate concurring opinion that the five other justices in the majority went too far in limiting religious freedom.
O'Connor said that after weighing all the factors, she believes Oregon has "a compelling interest" in outlawing peyote use.
In other action, the court:
Made it more difficult for employers to withdraw recognition of a labor union representing striking workers after new employees are hired to break the strike.
By a 5-4 vote, the justices reinstated a National Labor Relations Board policy against presuming the new employees oppose the union.
Ruled that lawsuits charging employers with violating a key federal anti-bias law may be filed in state as well as federal courts.
The 9-0 ruling upheld a $27,000 award won by a Chicago Ridge, Ill., woman against her trucking company employer, the Yellow Freight System Co.
The peyote case was before the nation's highest court for the second time. The justices in 1988 sent it back to the Oregon Supreme Court to determine whether the religious use of peyote was a crime in that state.
The justices were seeking that guidance, presumably, because if a state can ban all peyote use outright, it has the power to withhold unemployment benefits for those who use the drug.
But the Oregon Supreme Court refused to answer the high court's question, once again ruling that Oregon may not deny unemployment compensation for use of peyote in a religious ceremony.
Unlike Oregon, the federal government and most states exempt religious use of peyote from their criminal drug laws.
The fired workers in today's case, Galen Black and Alfred Smith, were counselors with the Douglas County, Ore., Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment.
After each took small amounts of peyote as part of a Native American Church sacrament, they were fired by the council for violating company policy.
The rehabilitation program since has changed its policy and now permits employees to use peyote in religious services.
Peyote is a cactus "button" containing the hallucinogen mescaline.
Smith, a Klamath Indian, is a recovered alcoholic who said he has not taken a drink since 1957.
Black is not an Indian but converted to the Native American Church. He worked for the council while recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.
State officials have not disputed that both men sincerely believe peyote is a part of the church's religious practices.
Lawyers for both men said using small quantities of peyote in a church service is comparable to sacramental use of small quantities of wine in Christian religious ceremonies.
But state officials said that if peyote is permitted in church ceremonies it will create a wedge for allowing other drugs, such as marijuana, to be used by other religious groups.
Oregon officials also argued that creating an exception for peyote would be a violation of constitutionally required separation of church and state.
The case is Oregon Employment Division vs. Smith, 88-1213.
by CNB