Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-123_g3bi.pdf
Page Number: 63

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

41 

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

ted  Quakers  holding  certain  government  positions  to  de-
cline to take the prescribed oath of office, allowing affirma-
tions instead.  Pt. II, ch. VI, Art. I, in id., at 22.  The Federal 
Constitution likewise permits federal and state officials to
make either an “Oath or Affirmation, to support this Con-
stitution.”  Art. VI, cl. 3 (emphasis added); see also Art. I, 
§3, cl. 6; Art. II, §1, cl. 8. 

Military conscription provides an even more revealing ex-
ample.  In the Colonies and later in the States, able-bodied 
men of a certain age were required to serve in the militia, 
see Heller, 554 U. S., at 595–596, but Quakers, Mennonites, 
and members of some other religious groups objected to mi-
litia  service  on  religious  grounds,  see  McConnell,  Origins
1468.  The militia was regarded as essential to the security 
of the State and the preservation of freedom, see Heller, 554 
U. S.,  at  597–598,  but  colonial  governments  nevertheless
granted religious exemptions, see McConnell, Origins 1468.
Rhode Island, Maryland, North Carolina, and New Hamp-
shire did so in the founding era.  Ibid.  In 1755, New York 
permitted a conscientious objector to obtain an exemption
if he paid a fee or sent a substitute.  Ibid.  Massachusetts 
adopted a similar law two years later, and Virginia followed 
suit in 1776.  Ibid., and n. 297. 

The Continental Congress also granted exemptions to re-
ligious objectors because conscription would do “violence to 
their consciences.”  Resolution of July 18, 1775, in 2 Jour-
nals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  1774–1789,  p.  189  (W. 
Ford ed. 1905) (quoted in McConnell, Origins 1469, and n.
299).  This decision is especially revealing because during 
that time the Continental Army was periodically in desper-
ate need of soldiers,56 the very survival of the new Nation 

—————— 

56 Mayer, The Continental Army, in A Companion to the American Rev-
olution 309 (J. Greene & J. Pole eds. 2000); R. Wright, The Continental 
Army 153–154, 163 (1983).