Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-123_g3bi.pdf
Page Number: 25

Cite as:  593 U. S. ____ (2021) 

3 

ALITO, J., concurring in judgment
ALITO, J., concurring in judgment 

form  of  head  covering  in  court.  The  rule  would  satisfy 
Smith even though it would prevent Orthodox Jewish men, 
Sikh men, and many Muslim women from appearing.  Many
other examples could be added. 

We  may  hope  that  legislators  and  others  with  rule-
making authority will not go as far as Smith allows, but the 
present case shows that the dangers posed by Smith are not 
hypothetical.  The city of Philadelphia (City) has issued an
ultimatum to an arm of the Catholic Church: Either engage 
in conduct that the Church views as contrary to the tradi-
tional  Christian  understanding  of  marriage  or  abandon  a
mission that dates back to the earliest days of the Church—
providing for the care of orphaned and abandoned children.
Many  people  believe  they  have  a  religious  obligation  to 
assist such children.  Jews and Christians regard this as a 
scriptural command,7 and it is a mission that the Catholic 
Church  has  undertaken  since  ancient  times.   One  of  the 
first known orphanages is said to have been founded by St. 
Basil  the  Great  in  the  fourth  century,8  and  for  centuries, 
the care of orphaned and abandoned children was carried 

—————— 
to fulfill the commandment”); B. Abramowitz, The Law of Israel: A Com-
pilation of the Hayye Adam 206 (1897) (“It is a positive commandment 
that a father shall circumcise his son or that he shall appoint another 
Israelite to act as his agent therein”); 3 Encyclopedia of Religion 1798 (2d
ed.  2005)  (“Muslims  agree  that  [circumcision]  must  occur  before  mar-
riage and is required of male converts”); H. Gibb & J. Kramers, Shorter
Encyclopaedia of Islam 254 (1953). 

7 See Holy Bible, Deuteronomy 10:18, 16:11, 26:12–13; James 1:27. 
8 See A. Crislip, From Monastery to Hospital: Christian Monasticism
& the Transformation of Health Care in Late Antiquity 104, 111 (2005) 
(describing  Basil  of  Caesarea’s  use  of  his  4th  century  monastery  as  a 
“place for the nourishment of orphans,” who “lived in their own wing of
the monastery,” “were provided with all the necessities of life[,] and were 
raised by the monastics acting as surrogate parents” (internal quotation 
marks omitted)).