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February 21, 2006

How's Yer Mum? Cuppa Tea?


Thank you, yes.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Posted by tree hugging sister at February 21, 2006 12:05 PM

Comments

What I find of real note here, though perhaps it's only of interest to us legal types (I don't know), it's that this was really NOT a First Amendment case. Not exactly or directly, anyway. It seems more a statutory construction case, about how to apply and reconcile the federal drug laws together with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. I haven't read the opinion yet, but 9-0 on this should be interesting.

It's also interesting as an insidery sort of thing to think about how the government argued this. The Solicitor-General's Office usually defends almost every federal statute simply as a matter of course, but when two might apparently conflict, then it seems like a more discretionary judgment call, and probably demonstrates the real policy preferences of a particular administration more clearly.

Posted by: Dave J at February 22, 2006 12:15 AM