Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/05pdf/04-1084.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

Cite as:  546 U. S. ____ (2006) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order 
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 04–1084 
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ALBERTO R. GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL, 
ET AL., PETITIONERS v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA 
BENEFICENTE UNIAO DO VEGETAL ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

[February 21, 2006] 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  ROBERTS  delivered  the  opinion  of  the

Court. 

A  religious  sect  with  origins  in  the  Amazon  Rainforest 
receives  communion  by  drinking  a  sacramental  tea, 
brewed  from  plants  unique  to  the  region,  that  contains  a 
hallucinogen  regulated  under  the  Controlled  Substances 
Act  by  the  Federal  Government.    The  Government  con-
cedes that this practice is a sincere exercise of religion, but 
nonetheless sought to prohibit the small American branch 
of  the  sect  from  engaging  in  the  practice,  on  the  ground
that  the  Controlled  Substances  Act  bars  all  use  of  the 
hallucinogen.  The sect sued to block enforcement against 
it  of  the  ban  on  the  sacramental  tea,  and  moved  for  a 
preliminary injunction.

It  relied  on  the  Religious  Freedom  Restoration  Act  of 
1993,  which  prohibits  the  Federal  Government  from  sub-
stantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion, unless 
the  Government  “demonstrates  that  application  of  the 
burden  to  the  person”  represents  the  least  restrictive 
means  of  advancing  a  compelling  interest.    42  U. S. C.