The Sherbert Test consists of four criteria that are used to determine if an individual's right to religious free exercise has been violated by the government. The test is a result of the 1963 Supreme Court case Sherbert v. Verner. The test is as follows: The Bill of Rights, First Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed in 1789 includes the Free Exercise Clause which guarantees the freedom of religion: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the...
For the individual, the court must determine
whether the person has a claim involving a sincere religious belief, and
whether the government action is a substantial burden on the person’s ability to act on that belief.
If these two elements are established, then the government must prove
that it is acting in furtherance of a "compelling state interest," and
that it has pursued that interest in the manner least restrictive, or least burdensome, to religion.
Downfall of the Sherbert Test
The Sherbert Test fell from favor in 1990 because of the Supreme Court case Employment Division v. Smith in which the Supreme Court wrote that the establishment of laws "for the common good" essentially overrode any religious objections. With this action the Supreme Court basically excised the fourth and most important clause of the Test, the one that says that government must pursue its common good interests in the manner least restrictive to religion. Holding Remanded decision on sacramental peyote use to Oregon State Supreme Court. ...
Then in 1993 the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was passed by the United States House and Senate by an overwhelming and bipartisan majority. One of the main purposes of this law was to reinstate the Sherbert Test. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was a 1993 act by the United States Congress aimed at preventing laws which substantially burdened a persons free exercise of their religion. ...
The Sherbert Test was finally dealt a fatal blow in 1997 in the United States Supreme Court case City of Boerne v. Flores in which the Supreme Court found that the United States Legislature had stepped outside of its bounds with RFRA and struck it down as an unconstitutional use of Congress' enforcement powers. The reasoning behind this was that it takes a Constitutional Amendment to override a Supreme Court decision, not merely a legislative act. City of Boerne v. ...
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