A Secular Test For a Secular Statute

Authors

Abner S. Greene, Fordham University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

University of Illinois Law Review Online

Volume

2016

Publication Date

2016

Keywords

religious freedom restoration act; RFRA; supreme court; hobby lobby; zubik; free speech clause; first amendment

Abstract

This short essay argues that a secular test is available to determine what constitutes a “substantial burden” on religious exercise under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It takes issue with the Court’s approach that is more deferential to the claimant, and with approaches offered by Professors Sepinwall and Helfand. It resists Sepinwall’s argument that proximity in law tracks a subjective sense of complicity, and it takes issue with Helfand’s argument that examining the substantiality of burden would implicate the religious question doctrine.

Recommended Citation

Abner S. Greene, A Secular Test For a Secular Statute, 2016 U. Ill. L. Rev. Online 34

Available at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/704