The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Civil Liberties

Civil Liberties Advocates have long been major partners in the fight for civil rights, and have often been closely aligned with the members of the religious community in fighting for the preservation of religious and other freedoms.

And, as discussed above, the Supreme Court's 1991 decision in Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith was seen as an assault on religious freedom by greatly expanding governments' ability to enforce generally applicable laws in ways that infringe upon religious exercise. Initial legislative efforts to address this decision were thwarted when the Supreme Court struck down the Religious Freedom Restoration as unconstitutional in City of Boerne v. Flores.

But advocates for religious liberties did not give up. Indeed, religious, civil rights, and civil liberties communities helped lead the push for the successful enactment of Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) in 2000. RLUIPA provides important new protections for religious freedom without the potential for undermining state and local civil rights laws. It focuses on land use for churches, synagogues, and other religious groups, and religious freedom of those in government-run institutions such as hospitals, prisons, and group homes.