Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. and Ernesto Pichardo v. City of Hialeah

Decided June 11, 1993. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-948 · 508 U.S. 520 (1993) · Cited 1,769 times

Holding

The judgment is reversed.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division · 450 U.S. 707 (1981)
• McDaniel v. Paty · 435 U.S. 618 (1978)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Reynolds v. United States · 98 U.S. 145 (1879)
• Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla. · 480 U.S. 136 (1987)
• Fowler v. Rhode Island · 345 U.S. 67 (1953)
• Frazee v. Illinois Department of Employment Security · 489 U.S. 829 (1989)
• McGowan v. Maryland · 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
• United States v. Lee · 455 U.S. 252 (1982)
• Larson v. Valente · 456 U.S. 228 (1982)
• Bob Jones University v. United States · 461 U.S. 574 (1983)
• Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney · 442 U.S. 256 (1979)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Lee v. Weisman · 505 U.S. 577 (1992)
• Hernandez v. Commissioner · 490 U.S. 680 (1989)
• Jimmy Swaggart Ministries v. Board of Equalization of California · 493 U.S. 378 (1990)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• Wallace v. Jaffree · 472 U.S. 38 (1985)
• Edwards v. Aguillard · 482 U.S. 578 (1987)
• Braunfeld v. Brown · 366 U.S. 599 (1961)
• Gillette v. United States · 401 U.S. 437 (1971)
• Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue · 460 U.S. 575 (1983)
• Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing Co. · 443 U.S. 97 (1979)
• Minersville School District v. Gobitis · 310 U.S. 586 (1940)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer · 582 U.S. 449 (2017)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm'n · 584 U.S. 617 (2018)
• Locke v. Davey · 540 U.S. 712 (2004)
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo · 592 U.S. 14 (2020)
• Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. · 597 U.S. 507 (2022)
• Trump v. Hawaii · 585 U.S. 667 (2018)
• City of Boerne v. Flores · 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
• Ashcroft v. Iqbal · 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
• Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins · 578 U.S. 330 (2016)
• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)
• McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky. · 545 U.S. 844 (2005)
• Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet · 512 U.S. 687 (1994)
• Rucho v. Common Cause · 588 U.S. 684 (2019)
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan v. Acevedo Feliciano · 589 U.S. 57 (2020)
• Iancu v. Brunetti · 588 U.S. 388 (2019)
• Carson v. Makin · 596 U.S. 767 (2022)
• Mahmoud v. Taylor · 606 U.S. 522 (2025)
• Barr v. American Assn. of Political Consultants, Inc. · 591 U.S. 610 (2020)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe · 530 U.S. 290 (2000)
• Tandon v. Newsom · 593 U.S. 61 (2021)
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen · 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
• Romer v. Evans · 517 U.S. 620 (1996)
• Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union · 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
• Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União Do Vegetal · 546 U.S. 418 (2006)
• Good News Club v. Milford Central School · 533 U.S. 98 (2001)
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn. · 564 U.S. 786 (2011)
• Mitchell v. Helms · 530 U.S. 793 (2000)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1993). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).