Title: Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 | The First Amendment Encyclopedia
Headings: The First Amendment Encyclopedia
The First Amendment Encyclopedia
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (1993)
By David Schultz (Updated September 2017 by David L. Hudson Jr.)
Congress passed Religious Freedom Restoration Act after First Amendment free exercise case
RFRA said courts have to use strict scrutiny when examining laws relating to religious freedom
Court limited RFRA, cited separation of powers
Congress created a narrower religious liberty law
Court used RFRA to uphold Hobby Lobby's religious-based exemption to federal health care law

Content: The Supreme Court applied the RFRA to corporations and said they can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women. ( AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, used with permission from the Associated Press)
Court used RFRA to uphold Hobby Lobby's religious-based exemption to federal health care law
The most recent controversy regarding RFRA concerns its application to corporations. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014), a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court determined that closely held corporations were persons within the meaning of RFRA and could assert a religious-based exemption to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to having to provide contraceptive coverage for employees. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented, writing that “ [although the court attempts to cabin its language to closely held corporations, its logic extends to corporations of any size, public, or private.” Later, the Court in Zubik v. Burwell (2016) vacated judgments from four federal courts of appeals – the Third, Fifth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits – that had found that federal regulations requiring employers to provide contraception coverage to their employees did not violate non-profit religious organization-employers’ religious liberty rights under the RFRA. This article first was published in 2009 and has been updated. The primary contributor was David Schultz, a professor at Hamline University. It has been updated by other First Amendment Encyclopedia contributors. Send Feedback on this article