Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-123_g3bi.pdf
Page Number: 65

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

43 

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

exemptions, it has been argued that they show only what 
the  Constitution  permits,  not  what  it  requires.    City  of 
Boerne, 521 U. S., at 541 (opinion of Scalia, J.).  But legis-
latures provided those accommodations before the concept 
of judicial review took hold, and their actions are therefore 
strong evidence of the founding era’s understanding of the
free-exercise right.  See McConnell, Free Exercise Revision-
ism 1119.  Cf. Heller, 554 U. S., at 600–603 (looking to state 
constitutions  that  preceded  the  adoption  of  the  Second
Amendment). 

D 
  Defenders of Smith have advanced historical arguments
of their own, but they are unconvincing, and in any event,
plainly insufficient to overcome the ordinary meaning of the 
constitutional text. 

1 
One  prominent  argument  points  to  language  in  some
founding-era charters and constitutions prohibiting laws or
government actions that were taken “for” or “on account” of 
religion.  See City of Boerne, 521 U. S., at 538–539 (opinion 
of  Scalia,  J.).    That  phrasing,  it  is  argued,  reaches  only
measures that target religion, not neutral and generally ap-
plicable laws.  This argument has many flaws.

No such language appears in the Free Exercise Clause,
and in any event, the argument rests on a crabbed reading 
of the words “for” or “on account of ” religion.  As Professor 
McConnell  has  explained,  “[i]f  a  member  of  the  Native 
American Church is arrested for ingesting peyote during a
religious  ceremony,  then  he  surely  is  molested  ‘for’  or  ‘on
account of ’ his religious practice—even though the law un-
der which he is arrested is neutral and generally applica-
ble.”  Freedom From Persecution 834. 

This argument also ignores the full text of many of the
provisions on which it relies.  Id., at 833–834.  While some