Religious regulation and the courts: The judiciary's changing role in protecting minority religions from majoritarian rule

Following the 1990 Smith v. Employment Division of Oregon ruling an the lim its of religious freedom, many protested that the Supreme Court had opened the door for majoritarian oppression of minority rights. Using data collect ed on 2,109 court cases on religion from 1981-1996 we document recent trend s in court decisions on religion and address questions posed by supply-side theory, legal scholars, and the sociology of law. We find that religious s ects and cults were more likely to be involved in court cases and more like ly to receive unfavorable rulings. Multivariate models confirm these findin g and support the charges of legal scholars that the Smith decision has dec reased the rate of rulings favoring religious groups. Finally, we find that the Smith decision had both a period effect and a ease precedent effect.