Muslim v. Frame’s Empirical Analysis
1995
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 1 district ·
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 2000B
Relies on Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Wisconsin v. Yoder · Hunter v. Bryant · Sherbert v. Verner · Employment Division Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. L Smith
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Were Congress to go beyond the phrasing chosen by the drafters of the First Amendment by specifically confining the scope of this legislation to those practices compelled or proscribed by a sincerely held religious belief in all circumstances, we would run the risk of excluding practices which are generally believed to be exercises worthy of protection.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“To say that the “exercise of religion” might include acts not necessarily compelled by a sincerely held religious belief is not to say that any act merely consistent with, or not proscribed by one’s religion would be an exercise of religion. As I pointed out in my testimony, it would not be reasonable to argue, for example, that a person whose religion did not proscribe the possession of a machine gun had a free exercise right to own one notwithstanding applicable federal laws.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“It is difficult to capture the idea of the dictates of conscience in statutory language because different theological traditions conceptualize the force of [God’s] moral order in different ways. Some treat it as a binding moral law; others view it as an expression of [God’s] will, which believers freely conform to out of love and devotion to [God].... it would be a mistake to tighten the language of the Act by confining it to conduct “compelled by religious belief.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.