Court Opinion

ID: 9632725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:23:31.728383+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:58:50.907808
License: Public Domain

Dolliver, J.
(dissenting) — I cannot agree with the majority's conclusions that Employment Div., Dep't of Human Resources v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 108 L. Ed. 2d 876, 110 S. Ct. 1595 (1990) (Smith II) does not apply to this case and that the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) 25.12) and the implementing ordinance (ordinance 112425) violate First Covenant's right of free exercise under the federal constitution and article 1, section 11 of the state constitution. Therefore, I dissent.
In Smith II, the Court held the First Amendment did not place the religiously motivated use of peyote beyond the reach of a criminal law which was not specifically directed at that religious practice. To do so would be contrary to First Amendment jurisprudence which has never "relieved *238the individual from obedience to a general law not aimed at the promotion or restriction of religious beliefs." Smith II, 494 U.S. at 879 (quoting Minersville Sch. Dist. v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586, 594-95, 84 L. Ed. 1375, 60 S. Ct. 1010 (1940)). The First Amendment is not offended "if prohibiting the exercise of religion ... is not the object of the [regulation] but merely the incidental effect of a generally applicable and otherwise valid provision . . .". (Italics mine.) Smith II, 494 U.S. at 878. Thus, the Court held neutral, generally applicable laws which only incidentally affect religiously motivated action and which do not involve other constitutional protections do not offend the free exercise of religion. Smith II, 494 U.S. at 879-82.
The Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and its implementing ordinance, like the criminal prohibition against peyote use in Smith II, are neutral, generally applicable laws which do not involve other constitutional protections. The ordinances apply neutrally and generally to protect an object, site or improvement which is more than 25 years old and which "has significant character, interest or value, as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the City, state, or nation". SMC 25.12.350. While the landmark ordinances will affect many religious buildings because of their social and cultural importance, this does not demonstrate a lack of neutrality or general applicability. See Rector, Wardens, & Members of Vestry of St. Bartholomew's Church v. New York, 914 F.2d 348, 354 (2d Cir. 1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 905 (1991). Indeed, the majority admits the designation criteria in the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance are neutral. Majority, at 214.
The majority, however, asserts the implementing ordinance's two references to "liturgy", which provide an exemption for religiously motivated exterior changes, transform the otherwise neutral ordinance into a nonneutral one. Majority, at 214. The irony, even the perversity, of this position is apparent. The Court in Smith II recognized the role the political process could and has played by providing exemp*239tions in generally applicable laws for religiously motivated practices. Smith II, 494 U.S. at 890. Particularly, the Court endorsed legislatures which had made, even though it was not constitutionally required, "nondiscrixninatory religious-practice exemption[s]" in their criminal drug laws for "sacramental peyote use". Smith II, 494 U.S. at 890. In this case, the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance makes no reference to religious facilities. Only the implementing ordinance, which must necessarily focus on the designated church site, is deemed not neutral because of its exception for liturgically required exterior changes. Yet, the majority uses this exemption as the reason the landmark ordinances fail the neutrality test! Incredible. This is bootstrapping of the most egregious nature.
Contrary to the inference of the majority, Health Servs. Div. v. Temple Baptist Church, 112 N.M. 262, 266-67, 814 P.2d 130, 134 (Ct. App. 1991) does not hold references to religious facilities render a statute per se not neutral. Rather, the court looked at the statute as a whole and found
nothing within these statutes that detracts from their character as being generally applicable and religion-neutral. We find nothing that intimates a legislative intent to discriminatorily burden religious exercise.
Health Servs. Div., at 266-67. Likewise, in this case, there is nothing in the ordinances which intimates an intent to discriminatorily burden religious exercise.
Next, the majority contends the Seattle landmark ordinances are not generally applicable and characterize them as being similar to laws in the unemployment compensation field, which remains the only context in which the Court has invalidated laws under the compelling governmental interest test set forth in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 10 L. Ed. 2d 965, 83 S. Ct. 1790 (1963) (Sherbert test). Majority, at 214-15. This majority position sweeps broader than Smith II justifies, is contrary to the application of Smith II by other courts in land use cases, and misconstrues the landmark ordinances as involving a system of individualized exemptions.
*240In Smith II, the Court attempted to create a cohesive context of free exercise jurisprudence. See Glendon, Religion & the Court: A New Beginning, 21 First Things 21, 25 (Mar. 1992). In so doing, the Court stated the Sherbert test had been used in the past to invalidate laws only in the unemployment compensation field but that "[i]n recent years we have abstained from applying the Sherbert test (outside the unemployment compensation field) at all." Smith II, 494 U.S. at 883 (test not used in Social Security, governmental logging and construction, military dress, and prison contexts). The Court then indicated the Sherbert test was inapplicable to the situation in this case because
[t]he government's ability to enforce generally applicable prohibitions of socially harmful conduct, like its ability to carry out other aspects of public policy, "cannot depend on measuring the effects of a governmental action on a religious objector's spiritual development."
(Italics mine.) Smith II, 494 U.S. at 885 (quoting Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439, 451, 99 L. Ed. 2d 534, 108 S. Ct. 1319 (1988)). Although Smith II concerned a challenge to a criminal prohibition, the majority recognizes that Smith II applies in both civil and criminal cases. See majority, at footnote 7. Because this case does not involve unemployment compensation and does involve the City's ability to carry out its public policy, the majority's assumption that the Sherbert test even applies in this context is erroneous. See, eg., Rector, Wardens, & Members of Vestry of St. Bartholomew's Church v. New York, supra; Salvation Army v. Department of Comm'ty Affairs, 919 F.2d 183 (3d Cir. 1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 905 (1991); Cornerstone Bible Church v. Hastings, 740 F. Supp. 654 (D. Minn. 1990) (land use cases since Smith II which have not applied the Sherbert test).
The legal issue in St. Bartholomew's is virtually identical to that presented here. In St. Bartholomew's, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission denied the church's application to demolish a building designated as a landmark to construct a commercial office tower in its place. The build*241ing was designated a landmark pursuant to religion-neutral designation criteria similar to the ordinance in this case. As the court noted, the building had
a special character, special historical and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage and cultural aspects of New York City ....
St. Bartholomew's, 914 F.2d at 351 (citing N.Y. Admin. Code tit. 25, § 25-305(a)(1) (1985)). Once designated, the Commission had to approve any alteration or demolition of the building designated as a landmark. St. Bartholomew's argued the Commission's denial of its application for a certificate of appropriateness for the demolition and new construction violated its right of free exercise by substantially limiting its ability to provide space for church programs and raise needed revenue. St. Bartholomew’s, 914 F.2d at 353-54.
The court held Smith II applied, noted the landmark law would affect many religious buildings, but concluded the law was a valid, neutral regulation of general applicability because there was no "evidence of an intent to discriminate against, or impinge on, religious belief in the designation of landmark sites." St. Bartholomew's, 914 F.2d at 354. Similarly, First Covenant has presented no evidence of such discriminatory intent.
The majority's attempt to distinguish St. Bartholomew's on the facts is unconvincing. Free exercise, if applicable at all in the landmark preservation arena, should not depend on when a church objects to a regulation, whether the affected building is an adjunct or a main church building, or whether the claimed financial restrictions are characterized as a reduction in market value or revenue generation. Majority, at 215-16. These matters are simply irrelevant under the Smith II analysis. Moreover, the landmark law in St. Bartholomew's did not have an exception for alterations required by liturgy, which is present here.
To the extent the Sherbert test has "some life beyond the unemployment compensation field", it clearly will not be extended to neutral, generally applicable laws. Smith II, 494 U.S. at 884. The landmark ordinances, like the criminal *242prohibition in Smith II and the tax laws, are generally applicable. They apply to an object, site or improvement which is 25 years old and which
has significant character, interest or value, as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the City, state, or nation . . ..
SMC 25.12.350. The designating ordinance implements the general landmarks ordinance and is defined as
an ordinance enacted pursuant to this chapter for the purpose of declaring an object, improvement or site a landmark, or a landmark site, and specifying the controls and any economic incentives applicable thereto, and shall include any ordinance designating a landmark in accordance with Ordinance 102229.
(Footnote omitted.) SMC 25.12.110. The majority asserts the ordinances contain mechanisms for individualized exceptions similar to unemployment compensation rules. Majority, at 214-15. In support of this position, the majority points to sections 3.01, 6.01, 8.01 and 9.05 of ordinance 106348 (the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance). Majority, at 215. Section 3.01 sets forth the standards for designating landmark sites. Typical of such standards are:
It is the location of, or is associated in a significant way with, an historic event with a significant effect upon the community, City, state, or nation ....
SMC 25.12.350(A) (ordinance 106348 § 3.01 (1977)). Section 6.01 requires that the Landmarks Preservation Board hold a public hearing on whether the proposed site meets the criteria for landmark designation before approving or denying the designation of a site. SMC 25.12.420 (ordinance 106348 § 6.01 (1977)). Section 8.01(a) requires the Board to negotiate with the owner of a designated site as to the particular controls needed to preserve the unique characteristics of the site. SMC 25.12.490 (ordinance 106348 § 8.01(a) (1977)). Section 8.01(b) sets forth the time limits and procedures for these negotiations. SMC 25.12.500 (ordinance 106348 § 8.01(b) (1977)). Section 9.01 provides that the owner of the site and any interested person may file objec*243tions to the controls and incentives proposed by the Board. SMC 25.12.530 (ordinance 106348 § 9.01 (1977)).
None of these sections "invite consideration of the particular circumstances behind" or are concerned about the "reasons" why the site does or does not meet the designating criteria. Smith II, 494 U.S. at 884. In contrast, the unemployment compensation laws are concerned not only with whether one meets the criteria of unemployment, but also look to the reasons why the person is unemployed. The landmark ordinances, however, apply to all sites and provide, similar to the function of the criminal law, a procedure to determine whether the designating criteria are met. Once the criteria are held to be satisfied, there is no provision in the landmark ordinances which is comparable to the individualized assessments necessarily required by the "good cause" exception to entitlement to unemployment compensation benefits. Cf. Bowen v. Roy, 476 U.S. 693, 90 L. Ed. 2d 735, 106 S. Ct. 2147 (1986) (no individual exemptions from requirement that all applicants under Aid to Families with Dependent Children provide Social Security number to state welfare agencies); American Friends Serv. Comm'ty Corp. v. Thornburgh, 941 F.2d 808, 811 (9th Cir. 1991) (exceptions for entire categories of employees from provisions in the Immigration Reform and Control Act were not individualized exemptions within meaning of Smith II).
The sections concerning controls and incentives for each designated site do not exempt or except that site from landmark status, like the "good cause" exception removes entitlement to unemployment benefits. Rather, the controls and incentives are more akin to the various exemptions and deductions available in generally applicable tax laws and the provisions for negotiation represent the type of accommodation we have endorsed in the past. See Sumner v. First Baptist Church, 97 Wn.2d 1, 9-10, 639 P.2d 1358 (1982).
Nor does this case present the hybrid situation provided for in Smith II. Even assuming secular design regulation of the exterior of a church violates free speech, which I am far *244from convinced it does, the landmark ordinances cannot restrict the church's expression of religious belief because the City has agreed that exterior changes required by liturgy are removed from the landmark regulations.
The church has also failed to show how the Seattle ordinances burden its free exercise, either administratively or financially. The administrative burden the majority asserts impermissibly burdens free exercise boils down to the City's ability to "bring the Church and the religious question [whether the exterior change has a bona fide liturgical base] before the courts". Majority, at 221-22. This results because the exception endorses liturgically based exterior changes and places exclusive authority in the church to determine when changes are required by liturgy.
Provided farther that nothing herein shall prevent any alteration of the exterior when such alterations are necessitated by changes in liturgy, it being understood that the owner is the exclusive authority on liturgy and is the decisive party in determining what architectural changes are appropriate to the liturgy.
(Italics mine.) Ordinance 112425; Clerk's Papers, at 174. The City has agreed that exterior changes necessitated by liturgy are exempted from normal landmark regulations. See First Covenant Church v. Seattle, 114 Wn.2d 392, 417-18, 787 P.2d 1352 (1990) (Dolliver, J., dissenting), cert. granted, judgment vacated and remanded, 499 U.S. 901 (1991).
Once the true nature of the majority's purported "administrative burden" is properly understood, it is apparent that it is not the type of burden which is protected by the First Amendment. Although, clearly, courts will not presume "to question the centrality of particular beliefs or practices to a faith" (italics mine), Smith II, 494 U.S. at 887 (quoting Hernandez v. Commissioner, 490 U.S. 680, 699, 104 L. Ed. 2d 766, 109 S. Ct. 2136 (1989)), no court has stretched the free exercise clause to the point where establishing the fact of religious motivation for conduct, or, in this case, a liturgical base for an exterior change, is considered, by itself, a religious hardship. Those wishing to shield their conduct under *245the First Amendment from otherwise valid governmental regulation must first show they merit its broad protections. See Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 216, 32 L. Ed. 2d 15, 92 S. Ct. 1526 (1972); United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163, 185, 13 L. Ed. 2d 733, 85 S. Ct. 850 (1965). To hold otherwise, as does the majority, would indeed "permit every citizen to become a law unto himself." Smith II, 494 U.S. at 879 (quoting Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 25 L. Ed. 244 (1879)).
The church has also failed to show an unconstitutional financial burden. First, the alleged reduction in market value caused by the designation is a disputed fact in this case. The reduction is based upon one appraisal, which is disputed by the City, and which was never the subject of fact finding by the trial court. Even if the reduction is taken as fact, the church has not shown the alleged reduction prohibits or interferes with religious practice. See Sumner, 97 Wn.2d at 21 (Dolliver, J., dissenting).
The central question in identifying an unconstitutional burden is whether the claimant has been denied the ability to practice his religion or coerced in the nature of those practices.
St. Bartholomew's, 914 F.2d at 355.
Lastly, I would find no violation of article 1, section 11 of the Washington State Constitution. As discussed above, the administrative burden of showing that an exterior change has, in fact, a liturgical base is not a burden which the First Amendment or article 1, section 11 of the Washington State Constitution can protect. The church must be required to show that its conduct falls within the protections afforded by the First Amendment and article 1, section 11 of the Washington State Constitution. See Sumner, 97 Wn.2d at 14 (Utter, J., concurring). In addition, the church has failed to show the Seattle landmark ordinances create an impermissible financial burden under Const, art. 1, § 11; the reduction in market value is a disputed fact and the church has presented no evidence the alleged reduction interferes with its religious practice. See Sumner, 97 Wn.2d at 7-10; First Covenant Church, *246114 Wn.2d at 415 (Utter, J., concurring) (land use restriction must interfere "markedly with a church's ability to perform its mission").
I would hold the landmark ordinances are neutral, generally applicable laws which neither implicate the free exercise clause of the First Amendment nor violate article 1, section 11 of the Washington State Constitution. The protections afforded by the federal and state religion clauses are not properly invoked when a claimant has not been denied the ability to practice his religion or coerced in the nature of those practices. To hold the religion clauses applicable in this context denigrates their true meaning and unjustifiably limits the City's efforts to preserve the cultural assets of the City in the interest of the general welfare. See SMC 25.12-.020(A).
Brachtenbach and Smith, JJ., concur with Dolliver, J.
Reconsideration denied January 6, 1993.