Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-123_g3bi.pdf
Page Number: 41.0

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

19 

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

House, then-Representative Charles Schumer introduced a 
bill that made a version of that test applicable to all actions
taken by the Federal Government or the States.  H. R. 1308, 
103d  Cong.,  1st  Sess.  (1993).  This  bill,  which  eventually
became  the  Religious  Freedom  Restoration  Act  (RFRA), 
passed in the House without dissent, was approved in the 
Senate by a vote of 97 to 3, and was enthusiastically signed 
into law by President Clinton.  139 Cong. Rec. 27239–27341 
(1993)  (House  voice  vote);  id.,  at  26416  (Senate  vote);  Re-
marks on Signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 
1993,  29  Weekly  Comp.  of  Pres.  Doc.  2377  (1993).  And 
when this Court later held in City of Boerne, 521 U. S. 507, 
that Congress lacked the power under the 14th Amendment 
to impose these rules on the States, Congress responded by 
enacting the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Per-
sons Act (RLUIPA) under its spending power and its power 
to regulate interstate commerce.  See 114 Stat. 803.  Intro-
duced in the Senate by Sen. Orrin Hatch and cosponsored 
by Sen. Edward Kennedy, RLUIPA imposed the same rules
as RFRA on land use and prison regulations.  S. 2869, 106th 
Cong., 2d Sess. (2000); 42 U. S. C. §2000cc et seq; 146 Cong.
Rec.  16698  (2000).  RLUIPA  passed  both  Houses  of  Con-
gress  without  a  single negative  vote  and,  like  RFRA,  was 
signed  by  President  Clinton.  Id.,  at  16703,  16623;  State-
ment on Signing the Religious Land Use and Institutional-
ized  Persons  Act  of  2000,  36  Weekly  Comp.  of  Pres.  Doc. 

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from entering the afterlife.  See Yang v. Sturner, 750 F. Supp. 558, 560 
(RI  1990);  see  also  139  Cong.  Rec.  9681  (1993)  (remarks  of  Rep.  Ed-
wards).  Members of Congress were also informed that veterans’ ceme-
teries had refused to allow burial on weekends even when that was re-
quired by the deceased’s religion, id., at 9687 (remarks of Rep. Cardin), 
and  that  churches  were  prohibited  from  conducting  services  in  areas 
zoned for commercial and industrial uses, id., at 9684 (remarks of Rep. 
Schumer).  In just the first three years after Smith, more than 50 cases 
were decided against religious claimants.  139 Cong. Rec., at 9685 (re-
marks of Rep. Hoyer); see also id., at 9684 (remarks of Rep. Schumer)
(“Smith was a devastating blow to religious freedom”).