Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Commission of Florida et al.

Decided February 25, 1987. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-993 · 480 U.S. 136 (1987) · Cited 431 times

Holding

Florida's refusal to award unemployment compensation benefits to appellant violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

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 8–1.

“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.

• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division · 450 U.S. 707 (1981)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc. · 472 U.S. 703 (1985)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• United States v. Lee · 455 U.S. 252 (1982)
• Illinois Ex Rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign Cty. · 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
• United States v. Ballard · 322 U.S. 78 (1944)
• Lawrence v. State Tax Comm'n of Miss. · 286 U.S. 276 (1932)

Cited by

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

• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Edwards v. Aguillard · 482 U.S. 578 (1987)
• Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Assn. · 485 U.S. 439 (1988)
• Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos · 483 U.S. 327 (1987)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• City of Boerne v. Flores · 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
• Cutter v. Wilkinson · 544 U.S. 709 (2005)
• Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet · 512 U.S. 687 (1994)
• Frazee v. Illinois Department of Employment Security · 489 U.S. 829 (1989)
• Hernandez v. Commissioner · 490 U.S. 680 (1989)
• Bowen v. Gilliard · 483 U.S. 587 (1987)
• Locke v. Davey · 540 U.S. 712 (2004)
• Jimmy Swaggart Ministries v. Board of Equalization of California · 493 U.S. 378 (1990)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1987). 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).