Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
Abstract
A religious accommodation is an exemption from compliance with the law for some but not for others. One might therefore suppose that before granting an accommodation, courts would inquire about whether a legal interference with religious belief or practice is truly significant, if only to evaluate whether the risk of political polarization that attends accommodation is worth hazarding. But that is not the case: any assessment of the significance of a religious belief or practice within a claimant's belief system is strictly forbidden.
Two arguments are pressed in support of this view: (1) courts have institutional reasons for acquiescing on the burden question; and (2) courts have anti-establishment reasons for doing so. Courts, it is said, do not decide about the quality of religious burdens. Claimants do that. Courts defer so as to reduce the political polarization that might result if some should perceive that their religious beliefs and practices are comparatively powerless to obtain exemptions. Deference on the burden question pre- serves the religious neutrality of courts and mitigates the politically polarizing dangers of accommodation.
Recommended Citation
Marc O. DeGirolami, Religious Accommodation, Religious Tradition, and Political Polarization, 20 LEWIS & CLARK L. REV. 1127 (2017).