Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-123_g3bi.pdf
Page Number: 67

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

45 

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

Christian and Protestant, the major Protestant denomina-
tions made up the great bulk of the religious adherents,60 
and other than with respect to the issue of taxes to support 
an  established  church,  it  is  hard  to  think  of  conflicts  be-
tween the practices of the members of these denominations
and generally applicable laws that a state legislature might 
have enacted. 

Members  of  minority  religions  are  most  likely  to  en-
counter such conflicts, and the largest minority group, the 
Quakers,  who  totaled  about  10%  of  religious  adherents,61 
had  received  exemptions  for  the  practices  that  conflicted 
with generally applicable laws.  As will later be shown, see 
infra,  at  46–50,  the  small  number  of  religious-exemption
cases that occurred during the early 19th century involved
members of what were then tiny religious groups—such as
Catholics, Jews, and Covenanters.62  Given the size of these 
groups, one would not expect a large number of cases.  And 
where  cases  arose,  the  courts’  decisions  may  not  have  al-
ways been reported.  Barclay, The Historical Origins of Ju-
dicial Religious Exemptions, 96 Notre Dame L. Rev. 55, 70 
(2020). 

3 

When the body of potentially relevant cases is examined, 
they provide little support for Smith’s interpretation of the 
—————— 

60 W. Newman & P. Halvorson, Atlas of American Religion 18 (2000). 
61 Ibid. 
62 The  Covenanters  originated  in  Scotland,  where  they  opposed  the 
Stuart  kings’  right  to  rule  over  the  Presbyterian  Church.  See  Emery,
Church and State in the Early Republic: The Covenanters’ Radical Cri-
tique, 25 J. L. & Religion 487, 488 (2009).  They immigrated to the United 
States and, in the 1790s, organized a branch of the Reformed Presbyter-
ian  Church.  Id.,  at  489.  Members  ascribe  to  two  foundational  docu-
ments—the Scottish National Covenant of 1638 and the Solemn League
and Covenant of 1643—and believe in the supremacy of God over man in 
both civil and ecclesiastical matters.  Id., at 448; see also J. McFeeters, 
The Covenanters in America: The Voice of Their Testimony on Present 
Moral Issues 57 (1892).