Written by Don Byrd
The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed yesterday the conviction of Amish residents who had refused to affix bright-colored safety triangles to their buggies. Because the law is neutral and has a rational basis, the Court concluded, requiring the Amish to comply does not violate their religious freedom rights. This is not to say their beliefs are not religious (some had argued the transportation choice is one of lifestyle and not religion), the Court emphasized, but that the State is within its authority to require all to follow the same guidelines as a matter of public safety. From the Court’s opinion (pdf):
The emblem standards specified refer to agriculture and motor vehicles. The statute is clearly a statute of general applicability, aimed at protecting public safety on the highways by requiring a brightly colored, reflective, universally shaped warning emblem. It does not prohibit any religious practice, and only incidentally impacts the Amish way of life because the Amish believe that they should generally travel in horse-drawn buggies. In fact, the record indicates some exceptions are made for vehicles driven by non-Amish persons. We need not debate whether this is a lifestyle choice or an actual religious choice. In either event, the statute is not aimed at slow-moving vehicles because they are a choice (or a religious practice), but rather because they are dangerous, in comparison to posted legal speeds on the highway. And, if a slow-moving vehicle is dark in color or is in deep shade, it is difficult to see whether it is an Amish buggy or a dusty combine.
The more lasting impact of the ruling, however, may be in its answer to a more fundamental constitutional question: Does the state’s constitution give citizens of the Commonwealth more religious liberty protection than the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? States certainly can provide more liberty than the Constitution requires; they just may not provide less.
The Court ruled the state’s guarantee of freedom is identical to that of the federal Constitution.
It has been argued in these cases that the last sentence of Section 5 of the Kentucky Constitution, “No human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience,” grants more protection to religious practice than the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Certainly, the language in the Kentucky Constitution is more specific. But it is linguistically impossible for language to be more inclusive than that in the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….”. “Free exercise” of religion arguably requires a government to not place restrictions on the religious practice.
See the Kentucky Courier-Journal coverage here. Notably, the state legislature has, since these convictions, changed the law to allow the use of gray or reflective tape instead of the bright-colored triangles the Amish refused.
