Free Exercise's Outer Boundary: The Case of Hasidic Education

Abstract

The First Amendment is currently being pulled in opposite directions by a group of Hasidic schools in New York. Driven by deeply held religious beliefs, the leaders of these schools refuse to teach virtually any of the secular studies required for children by New York state law. Proponents of these schools point to the Free Exercise Clause and the “hybrid rights” of religion and parental control. However the state also has an interest in ensuring that its students are adequately educated. This Piece provides a roadmap for how these competing interests should be balanced. The legal aspects of Hasidic education have never been studied, and the issues involved provide a unique opportunity to revisit and test the hybrid-rights doctrine developed by Justice Scalia in Employment Division v. Smith. The subject of Hasidic schooling is important in its own right but has far-reaching implications for other, similarly situated, religious communities.

Keywords: Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Law and Religion, Education Law