Opinion of the Court
mental interest." §2000bb–1(b).[1]
As enacted in 1993, RFRA applied to both the Federal Government and the States, but the constitutional authority invoked for regulating federal and state agencies differed. As applied to a federal agency, RFRA is based on the enumerated power that supports the particular agency's work,[2] but in attempting to regulate the States and their subdivisions, Congress relied on its power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to enforce the First Amendment. 521 U. S., at 516–517. In City of Boerne, however, we held that Congress had overstepped its Section 5 authority because "[t]he stringent test RFRA demands" "far exceed[ed] any pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct under the Free Exercise Clause as interpreted in Smith." Id., at 533–534. See also id., at 532.
Following our decision in City of Boerne, Congress passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 114 Stat. 803, 42 U. S. C. §2000cc et seq. That statute, enacted under Congress's Commerce and Spending Clause powers, imposes the same general test as RFRA but on a more limited category of governmental actions. See Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. 709, 715–716 (2005). And, what is most relevant for present purposes, RLUIPA amended RFRA's definition of the "exercise of religion." See §2000bb–2(4) (importing RLUIPA definition). Before RLUIPA, RFRA's definition
- ↑ In City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S., 507 (1997), we wrote that RFRA's "least restrictive means requirement was not used in the pre-Smith jurisprudence RFRA purported to codify." Id., at 509. On this understanding of our pre-Smith cases, RFRA did more than merely restore the balancing test used in the Sherbert line of cases; it provided even broader protection for religious liberty than was available under those decisions.
- ↑ See, e.g., Hankins v. Lyght, 441 F. 3d 96, 108 (CA2 2006); Guam v. Guerrero, 290 F. 3d 1210, 1220 (CA9 2002).
