A Continued Sign of the Court's Unwillingness to Overrule Smith

Authors

Gader Wren

Document Type

Comment

Publication Date

Spring 3-22-2023

Abstract

Since its inception, the Supreme Court’s holding in Employment Division v. Smith has been attacked for diluting Free Exercise rights. In recent years, petitioners have asked the Court to reconsider Smith’s soundness. However, de-spite these challenges to Smith’s legitimacy, it has remained the law of the land.

On February 22, 2022, the Court granted certiorari on 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. Although Petitioner asked the Court to overrule Smith, the Court granted certiorari to answer only a single question: “[w]hether applying a public-accommodation law to compel an artist to speak or stay silent violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.” This move suggests that Justices Barrett and Kavanaugh remain hesitant to overrule Smith.

Publication Citation

Gader Wren, A Continued Sign of the Court's Unwillingness to Overrule Smith, 7 Nev. L. J. Forum 1 (2023).

Recommended Citation

Wren, Gader (2023) "A Continued Sign of the Court's Unwillingness to Overrule Smith," Nevada Law Journal Forum: Vol. 7, Article 1.
Available at: https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nljforum/vol7/iss1/1