Opinion ID: 185632
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Impingement Threshold

Text: 26 The fact that the First Amendment does not protect only compelled religious conduct does not mean that the Constitution forbids all constraints on religiously motivated conduct, however trivial. Instead, the First Amendment is implicated when a law or regulation imposes a substantial, as opposed to inconsequential, burden on the litigant's religious practice. 27 Our cases make clear that this threshold showing must be made before the First Amendment is implicated. See Branch Ministries v. Rossotti, 211 F.3d 137, 142 (D.C.Cir.2000) (holding that, to sustain its claim under either the Constitution or RFRA, a plaintiff must first establish that its free exercise right has been substantially burdened). This requirement accords with the Supreme Court's discussion in O'Lone, which assumed the importance of the relevant ritual to the prisoners. See 482 U.S. at 351, 107 S.Ct. at 2405-06. 28 In determining whether a litigant has met the threshold requirement, a court must consider several factors. The litigant's beliefs must be sincere and the practices at issue must be of a religious nature. See Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 531, 113 S.Ct. 2217, 2225-26, 124 L.Ed.2d 472 (1993). The challenged rule must also burden a central tenet or important practice of the litigant's religion. 29 We are mindful of the Supreme Court's warning that judging the centrality of different religious practices is akin to the unacceptable `business of evaluating the relative merits of differing religious claims.' Smith, 494 U.S. at 887, 110 S.Ct. at 1604 (quoting United States v. Lee, 455 U.S. 252, 263 n. 2, 102 S.Ct. 1051, 1058 n. 2, 71 L.Ed.2d 127 (1982) (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment)); see also Univ. of Great Falls v. NLRB, 278 F.3d 1335 (D.C.Cir.2002) (same). Nonetheless, it is sometimes the case that litigants can make no credible showing that the affected practice is either central or important in their religious scheme. See Henderson, 253 F.3d at 17. In such cases, the de minimis burden imposed by the challenged law is not constitutionally cognizable. Id. In other cases, in which the practice at issue is indisputably an important component of the litigants' religious scheme, see, e.g., City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. at 531, 113 S.Ct. at 2225-26 (noting that petitioners' assertion that animal sacrifice was an integral part of their religion was neither bizarre nor incredible), such evidence may be relevant to overcome any claim that the impact of the challenged law is de minimis. Moreover, a rule that bans a practice that is not central to an adherent's religious practice might nonetheless impose a substantial burden, if the practice is important and based on a sincere religious belief. 30 A court may also consider whether the litigants' beliefs find any support in the religion to which they subscribe, or whether the litigants are merely relying on a self-serving view of religious practice. This inquiry is not a matter of deciding whether appellants' beliefs accord in every particular with the religious orthodoxy of their church. See Smith, 494 U.S. at 887, 110 S.Ct. at 1604 (holding that courts should not question the validity of particular litigants' interpretations of their creeds) (citing Hernandez v. Comm'r, 490 U.S. 680, 699, 109 S.Ct. 2136, 2148-49, 104 L.Ed.2d 766 (1989)). Nor is it a matter of adjudicating intrafaith differences in practice or belief. See Thomas v. Review Bd. of the Ind. Employment Sec. Div., 450 U.S. 707, 716, 101 S.Ct. 1425, 1431, 67 L.Ed.2d 624 (1981) (holding that it is not within the judicial function and judicial competence to inquire whether the petitioner or [another member of his faith] more correctly perceived the commands of their common faith, because [c]ourts are not arbiters of scriptural interpretation). Instead, a court may determine whether the litigants' views have any basis whatsoever in the creed or community on which they purport to rest their claim. For example, a Catholic litigant who asserted that it was part of his religion to wear sunglasses would be making a claim so bizarre ... as not to be entitled to protection under the First Amendment. Id. at 715, 101 S.Ct. at 1431. The litigant's assertion of a view so totally foreign to the creed with which he claimed to affiliate might well lead the court to question his sincerity. It is therefore unlikely that a litigant challenging a rule limiting his right to wear sunglasses could satisfy the threshold requirement. 31 In the instant case, the District Court apparently assumed that the plaintiffs could not satisfy the threshold test, because the religious practice at issue was not mandatory. As noted above, the trial court's ruling on this point was in error. Therefore, on remand, the District Court must first determine whether plaintiffs' claim passes the threshold test, and then consider whether plaintiffs have met their burden under the Turner/O'Lone test. We explain below.