Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União Do Vegetal

(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2005 1

Syllabus

NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is

being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.

The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been

prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.

See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Syllabus

GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL, ET AL. v. O

CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE UNIAO DO

VEGETAL ET AL.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR

THE TENTH CIRCUIT

No. 04–1084. Argued November 1, 2005—Decided February 21, 2006

Congress enacted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993

(RFRA) in response to Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of

Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872, where, in upholding a generally appli-

cable law that burdened the sacramental use of peyote, this Court

held that the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause does not re-

quire judges to engage in a case-by-case assessment of the religious

burdens imposed by facially constitutional laws, id., at 883–890.

Among other things, RFRA prohibits the Federal Government from

substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion, “even if the

burden results from a rule of general applicability,” 42 U. S. C.

§2000bb–1(a), except when the Government can “demonstrat[e] that

application of the burden to the person (1) [furthers] a compelling

government interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of further-

ing that . . . interest,” §2000bb–1(b).

Members of respondent church (UDV) receive communion by drink-

ing hoasca, a tea brewed from plants unique to the Amazon Rainfor-

est that contains DMT, a hallucinogen regulated under Schedule I of

the Controlled Substances Act, see 21 U. S. C. §812(c), Schedule I(c).

After U. S. Customs inspectors seized a hoasca shipment to the

American UDV and threatened prosecution, the UDV filed this suit

for declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging, inter alia, that apply-

ing the Controlled Substances Act to the UDV’s sacramental hoasca

use violates RFRA. At a hearing on the UDV’s preliminary injunc-

tion motion, the Government conceded that the challenged applica-

tion would substantially burden a sincere exercise of religion, but ar-

gued that this burden did not violate RFRA because applying the

2 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Syllabus

Controlled Substances Act was the least restrictive means of advanc-

ing three compelling governmental interests: protecting UDV mem-

bers’ health and safety, preventing the diversion of hoasca from the

church to recreational users, and complying with the 1971 United

Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The District Court

granted relief, concluding that, because the parties’ evidence on

health risks and diversion was equally balanced, the Government

had failed to demonstrate a compelling interest justifying the sub-

stantial burden on the UDV. The court also held that the 1971 Con-

vention does not apply to hoasca. The Tenth Circuit affirmed.

Held: The courts below did not err in determining that the Government

failed to demonstrate, at the preliminary injunction stage, a compel-

ling interest in barring the UDV’s sacramental use of hoasca. Pp. 6–

19.

1. This Court rejects the Government’s argument that evidentiary

equipoise as to potential harm and diversion is an insufficient basis

for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Controlled

Substances Act. Given that the Government conceded the UDV’s

prima facie RFRA case in the District Court and that the evidence

found to be in equipoise related to an affirmative defense as to which

the Government bore the burden of proof, the UDV effectively dem-

onstrated a likelihood of success on the merits. The Government’s

argument that, although it would bear the burden of demonstrating a

compelling interest at trial on the merits, the UDV should have borne

the burden of disproving such interests at the preliminary injunction

hearing is foreclosed by Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union,

542 U. S. 656, 666. There, in affirming the grant of a preliminary in-

junction against the Government, this Court reasoned that the bur-

dens with respect to the compelling interest test at the preliminary

injunction stage track the burdens at trial. The Government’s at-

tempt to limit the Ashcroft rule to content-based restrictions on

speech is unavailing. The fact that Ashcroft involved such a restric-

tion in no way affected the Court’s assessment of the consequences of

having the burden at trial for preliminary injunction purposes. Con-

gress’ express decision to legislate the compelling interest test indi-

cates that RFRA challenges should be adjudicated in the same way

as the test’s constitutionally mandated applications, including at the

preliminary injunction stage. Pp. 6–8.

2. Also rejected is the Government’s central submission that, be-

cause it has a compelling interest in the uniform application of the

Controlled Substances Act, no exception to the DMT ban can be made

to accommodate the UDV. The Government argues, inter alia, that

the Act’s description of Schedule I substances as having “a high po-

tential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use,” and “a lack of

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 3

Syllabus

accepted safety for use . . . under medical supervision,” 21 U. S. C.

§812(b)(1), by itself precludes any consideration of individualized ex-

ceptions, and that the Act’s “closed” regulatory system, which prohib-

its all use of controlled substances except as the Act itself authorizes,

see Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U. S. ___, ___, cannot function properly if

subjected to judicial exemptions. Pp. 8–16.

(a) RFRA and its strict scrutiny test contemplate an inquiry

more focused than the Government’s categorical approach. RFRA re-

quires the Government to demonstrate that the compelling interest

test is satisfied through application of the challenged law “to the per-

son”—the particular claimant whose sincere exercise of religion is be-

ing substantially burdened. 42 U. S. C. §2000bb–1(b). Section

2000bb(b)(1) expressly adopted the compelling interest test of Sher-

bert v. Verner, 374 U. S. 398, and Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U. S. 205.

There, the Court looked beyond broadly formulated interests justify-

ing the general applicability of government mandates, scrutinized the

asserted harms, and granted specific exemptions to particular reli-

gious claimants. Id., at 213, 221, 236; Sherbert, supra, at 410. Out-

side the Free Exercise area as well, the Court has noted that

“[c]ontext matters” in applying the compelling interest test, Grutter v.

Bollinger, 539 U. S. 306, 327, and has emphasized that strict scrutiny’s

fundamental purpose is to take “relevant differences” into account,

Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U. S. 200, 228. Pp. 9–10.

(b) Under RFRA’s more focused inquiry, the Government’s mere

invocation of the general characteristics of Schedule I substances

cannot carry the day. Although Schedule I substances such as DMT

are exceptionally dangerous, see, e.g., Touby v. United States, 500

U. S. 160, 162, there is no indication that Congress, in classifying

DMT, considered the harms posed by the particular use at issue.

That question was litigated below. Before the District Court found

that the Government had not carried its burden of showing a compel-

ling interest in preventing such harm, the court noted that it could

not ignore the congressional classification and findings. But Con-

gress’ determination that DMT should be listed under Schedule I

simply does not provide a categorical answer that relieves the Gov-

ernment of the obligation to shoulder its RFRA burden. The Con-

trolled Substances Act’s authorization to the Attorney General to

“waive the requirement for registration of certain manufacturers, dis-

tributors, or dispensers if he finds it consistent with the public health

and safety,” 21 U. S. C. §822(d), reinforces that Congress’ findings

with respect to Schedule I substances should not carry the determi-

native weight, for RFRA purposes, that the Government would as-

cribe to them. Indeed, despite the fact that everything the Govern-

ment says about the DMT in hoasca applies in equal measure to the

4 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Syllabus

mescaline in peyote, another Schedule I substance, both the Execu-

tive and Congress have decreed an exception from the Controlled

Substances Act for Native American religious use of peyote, see 21

CFR §1307.31; 42 U. S. C. §1996a(b)(1). If such use is permitted in

the face of the general congressional findings for hundreds of thou-

sands of Native Americans practicing their faith, those same findings

alone cannot preclude consideration of a similar exception for the 130

or so American members of the UDV who want to practice theirs.

See Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U. S. 520, 547.

The Government’s argument that the existence of a congressional ex-

emption for peyote does not indicate that the Controlled Substances Act

is amenable to judicially crafted exceptions fails because RFRA plainly

contemplates court-recognized exceptions, see §2000bb–1(c). Pp. 11–13.

(c) The peyote exception also fatally undermines the Govern-

ment’s broader contention that the Controlled Substances Act estab-

lishes a closed regulatory system that admits of no exceptions under

RFRA. The peyote exception has been in place since the Controlled

Substances Act’s outset, and there is no evidence that it has undercut

the Government’s ability to enforce the ban on peyote use by non-

Indians. The Government’s reliance on pre-Smith cases asserting a

need for uniformity in rejecting claims for religious exemptions under

the Free Exercise Clause is unavailing. Those cases did not embrace

the notion that a general interest in uniformity justified a substantial

burden on religious exercise, but instead scrutinized the asserted

need and explained why the denied exemptions could not be accom-

modated. See, e.g., United States v. Lee, 455 U. S. 252, 258, 260.

They show that the Government can demonstrate a compelling inter-

est in uniform application of a particular program by offering evi-

dence that granting the requested religious accommodations would

seriously compromise its ability to administer the program. Here the

Government’s uniformity argument rests not so much on the particu-

lar statutory program at issue as on slippery slope concerns that

could be invoked in response to any RFRA claim for an exception to a

generally applicable law, i.e., “if I make an exception for you, I’ll have

to make one for everybody, so no exceptions.” But RFRA operates by

mandating consideration, under the compelling interest test, of ex-

ceptions to “rule[s] of general applicability.” §2000bb–1(a). Congress’

determination that the legislated test is “workable . . . for striking

sensible balances between religious liberty and competing prior gov-

ernmental interests,” §200bb(a)(5), finds support in Sherbert, supra,

at 407, and Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. ___, ___. While there may

be instances where a need for uniformity precludes the recognition of

exceptions to generally applicable laws under RFRA, it would be sur-

prising to find that this was such a case, given the longstanding pe-

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 5

Syllabus

yote exemption and the fact that the very reason Congress enacted

RFRA was to respond to a decision denying a claimed right to sacra-

mental use of a controlled substance. The Government has not

shown that granting the UDV an exemption would cause the kind of

administrative harm recognized as a compelling interest in, e.g., Lee.

It cannot now compensate for its failure to convince the District

Court as to its health or diversion concerns with the bold argument

that there can be no RFRA exceptions at all to the Controlled Sub-

stances Act. Pp. 13–16.

3. The Government argues unpersuasively that it has a compelling

interest in complying with the 1971 U. N. Convention. While this

Court does not agree with the District Court that the Convention

does not cover hoasca, that does not automatically mean that the

Government has demonstrated a compelling interest in applying the

Controlled Substances Act, which implements the Convention, to the

UDV’s sacramental use. At this stage, it suffices that the Govern-

ment did not submit any evidence addressing the international con-

sequences of granting the UDV an exemption, but simply relied on

two affidavits by State Department officials attesting to the general

(and undoubted) importance of honoring international obligations

and maintaining the United States’ leadership in the international

war on drugs. Under RFRA, invocation of such general interests,

standing alone, is not enough. Pp. 16–18.

389 F. 3d 973, affirmed and remanded.

ROBERTS, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which all other

Members joined, except ALITO, J., who took no part in the consideration

or decision of the case.

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 1

Opinion of the Court

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the

preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to

notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-

ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order

that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

_________________

No. 04–1084

_________________

ALBERTO R. GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL,

ET AL ., PETITIONERS v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA

BENEFICENTE UNIAO DO VEGETAL ET AL.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF

APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

[February 21, 2006]

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the

Court.

A religious sect with origins in the Amazon Rainforest

receives communion by drinking a sacramental tea,

brewed from plants unique to the region, that contains a

hallucinogen regulated under the Controlled Substances

Act by the Federal Government. The Government con-

cedes that this practice is a sincere exercise of religion, but

nonetheless sought to prohibit the small American branch

of the sect from engaging in the practice, on the ground

that the Controlled Substances Act bars all use of the

hallucinogen. The sect sued to block enforcement against

it of the ban on the sacramental tea, and moved for a

preliminary injunction.

It relied on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of

1993, which prohibits the Federal Government from sub-

stantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion, unless

the Government “demonstrates that application of the

burden to the person” represents the least restrictive

means of advancing a compelling interest. 42 U. S. C.

2 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

§2000bb–1(b). The District Court granted the preliminary

injunction, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. We

granted the Government’s petition for certiorari. Before

this Court, the Government’s central submission is that it

has a compelling interest in the uniform application of the

Controlled Substances Act, such that no exception to the

ban on use of the hallucinogen can be made to accommo-

date the sect’s sincere religious practice. We conclude that

the Government has not carried the burden expressly

placed on it by Congress in the Religious Freedom

Restoration Act, and affirm the grant of the preliminary

injunction.

I

In Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore.

v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872 (1990), this Court held that the

Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment does not

prohibit governments from burdening religious practices

through generally applicable laws. In Smith, we rejected

a challenge to an Oregon statute that denied unemploy-

ment benefits to drug users, including Native Americans

engaged in the sacramental use of peyote. Id., at 890. In

so doing, we rejected the interpretation of the Free Exer-

cise Clause announced in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U. S. 398

(1963), and, in accord with earlier cases, see Smith, 494

U. S., at 879–880, 884–885, held that the Constitution

does not require judges to engage in a case-by-case as-

sessment of the religious burdens imposed by facially

constitutional laws. Id., at 883–890.

Congress responded by enacting the Religious Freedom

Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), 107 Stat. 1488, as

amended, 42 U. S. C. §2000bb et seq., which adopts a

statutory rule comparable to the constitutional rule re-

jected in Smith. Under RFRA, the Federal Government

may not, as a statutory matter, substantially burden a

person’s exercise of religion, “even if the burden results

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 3

Opinion of the Court

from a rule of general applicability.” §2000bb–1(a). The

only exception recognized by the statute requires the

Government to satisfy the compelling interest test—to

“demonstrat[e] that application of the burden to the per-

son—(1) is in furtherance of a compelling government

interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of further-

ing that compelling governmental interest.” §2000bb–1(b).

A person whose religious practices are burdened in viola-

tion of RFRA “may assert that violation as a claim or

defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate

relief.” §2000bb–1(c).1

The Controlled Substances Act, 84 Stat. 1242, as

amended, 21 U. S. C. §801 et seq. (2000 ed. and Supp. I),

regulates the importation, manufacture, distribution, and

use of psychotropic substances. The Act classifies sub-

stances into five schedules based on their potential for

abuse, the extent to which they have an accepted medical

use, and their safety. See §812(b) (2000 ed.). Substances

listed in Schedule I of the Act are subject to the most

comprehensive restrictions, including an outright ban on

all importation and use, except pursuant to strictly regu-

lated research projects. See §§823, 960(a)(1). The Act

authorizes the imposition of a criminal sentence for simple

possession of Schedule I substances, see §844(a), and

mandates the imposition of a criminal sentence for posses-

sion “with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense”

such substances, see §§841(a), (b).

O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal (UDV)

is a Christian Spiritist sect based in Brazil, with an

American branch of approximately 130 individuals. Cen-

tral to the UDV’s faith is receiving communion through

——————

1 Asoriginally enacted, RFRA applied to States as well as the Federal

Government. In City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507 (1997), we held

the application to States to be beyond Congress’ legislative authority

under §5 of the 14th Amendment.

4 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

hoasca (pronounced “wass-ca”), a sacramental tea made

from two plants unique to the Amazon region. One of the

plants, psychotria viridis, contains dimethyltryptamine

(DMT), a hallucinogen whose effects are enhanced by

alkaloids from the other plant, banisteriopsis caapi. DMT,

as well as “any material, compound, mixture, or prepara-

tion, which contains any quantity of [DMT],” is listed in

Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. §812(c),

Schedule I(c).

In 1999, United States Customs inspectors intercepted a

shipment to the American UDV containing three drums of

hoasca. A subsequent investigation revealed that the

UDV had received 14 prior shipments of hoasca. The

inspectors seized the intercepted shipment and threatened

the UDV with prosecution.

The UDV filed suit against the Attorney General and

other federal law enforcement officials, seeking declara-

tory and injunctive relief. The complaint alleged, inter

alia, that applying the Controlled Substances Act to the

UDV’s sacramental use of hoasca violates RFRA. Prior to

trial, the UDV moved for a preliminary injunction, so that

it could continue to practice its faith pending trial on the

merits.

At a hearing on the preliminary injunction, the Gov-

ernment conceded that the challenged application of the

Controlled Substances Act would substantially burden a

sincere exercise of religion by the UDV. See O Centro

Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal v. Ashcroft, 282

F. Supp. 2d 1236, 1252 (NM 2002). The Government

argued, however, that this burden did not violate RFRA,

because applying the Controlled Substances Act in this

case was the least restrictive means of advancing three

compelling governmental interests: protecting the health

and safety of UDV members, preventing the diversion of

hoasca from the church to recreational users, and comply-

ing with the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psycho-

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 5

Opinion of the Court

tropic Substances, a treaty signed by the United States

and implemented by the Act. Feb. 21, 1971, [1979–1980],

32 U. S. T. 543, T. I. A. S. No. 9725. See 282 F. Supp. 2d,

at 1252–1253.

The District Court heard evidence from both parties on

the health risks of hoasca and the potential for diversion

from the church. The Government presented evidence to

the effect that use of hoasca, or DMT more generally, can

cause psychotic reactions, cardiac irregularities, and

adverse drug interactions. The UDV countered by citing

studies documenting the safety of its sacramental use of

hoasca and presenting evidence that minimized the likeli-

hood of the health risks raised by the Government. With

respect to diversion, the Government pointed to a general

rise in the illicit use of hallucinogens, and cited interest in

the illegal use of DMT and hoasca in particular; the UDV

emphasized the thinness of any market for hoasca, the

relatively small amounts of the substance imported by the

church, and the absence of any diversion problem in the

past.

The District Court concluded that the evidence on

health risks was “in equipoise,” and similarly that the

evidence on diversion was “virtually balanced.” Id., at

1262, 1266. In the face of such an even showing, the court

reasoned that the Government had failed to demonstrate a

compelling interest justifying what it acknowledged was a

substantial burden on the UDV’s sincere religious exer-

cise. Id., at 1255. The court also rejected the asserted

interest in complying with the 1971 Convention on Psy-

chotropic Substances, holding that the Convention does

not apply to hoasca. Id., at 1266–1269.

The court entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting

the Government from enforcing the Controlled Substances

Act with respect to the UDV’s importation and use of

hoasca. The injunction requires the church to import the

tea pursuant to federal permits, to restrict control over the

6 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

tea to persons of church authority, and to warn particu-

larly susceptible UDV members of the dangers of hoasca.

See Preliminary Injunction ¶¶2, 5–12, 32–33, App. F to

App. to Pet. for Cert. 249a, 250a–252a, 258a–259a. The

injunction also provides that “if [the Government] be-

lieve[s] that evidence exists that hoasca has negatively

affected the health of UDV members,” or “that a shipment

of hoasca contain[s] particularly dangerous levels of DMT,

[the Government] may apply to the Court for an expedited

determination of whether the evidence warrants suspen-

sion or revocation of [the UDV’s authority to use hoasca].”

Id., at 257a, ¶29.

The Government appealed the preliminary injunction

and a panel of the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

affirmed, O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal

v. Ashcroft, 342 F. 3d 1170 (2003), as did a majority of the

Circuit sitting en banc, 389 F. 3d 973 (2004). We granted

certiorari. 544 U. S. 973 (2005).

II

Although its briefs contain some discussion of the poten-

tial for harm and diversion from the UDV’s use of hoasca,

the Government does not challenge the District Court’s

factual findings or its conclusion that the evidence submit-

ted on these issues was evenly balanced. Instead, the

Government maintains that such evidentiary equipoise is

an insufficient basis for issuing a preliminary injunction

against enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act. We

review the District Court’s legal rulings de novo and its

ultimate decision to issue the preliminary injunction for

abuse of discretion. See McCreary County v. American

Civil Liberties Union, 545 U. S. ___ , ___ (2005) (slip op., at

19).

The Government begins by invoking the well-

established principle that the party seeking pretrial relief

bears the burden of demonstrating a likelihood of success

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 7

Opinion of the Court

on the merits. See, e.g., Mazurek v. Armstrong, 520 U. S.

968, 972 (1997) (per curiam); Doran v. Salem Inn, Inc., 422

U. S. 922, 931 (1975). The Government argues that the

District Court lost sight of this principle in issuing the

injunction based on a mere tie in the evidentiary record.

A majority of the en banc Court of Appeals rejected this

argument, and so do we. Before the District Court, the

Government conceded the UDV’s prima facie case under

RFRA. See 282 F. Supp. 2d, at 1252 (application of the

Controlled Substances Act would (1) substantially burden

(2) a sincere (3) religious exercise). The evidence the

District Court found to be in equipoise related to two of

the compelling interests asserted by the Government,

which formed part of the Government’s affirmative de-

fense. See 42 U. S. C. §2000bb–1(b) (“Government may

substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion only if

it demonstrates that application of the burden to the per-

son—(1) is in furtherance of a compelling government

interest . . .” (emphasis added)); §2000bb–2(3) (“[T]he term

‘demonstrates’ means meets the burdens of going forward

with the evidence and of persuasion”). Accordingly, the

UDV effectively demonstrated that its sincere exercise of

religion was substantially burdened, and the Government

failed to demonstrate that the application of the burden to

the UDV would, more likely than not, be justified by the

asserted compelling interests. See 389 F. 3d, at 1009

(Seymour, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part)

(“[T]he balance is between actual irreparable harm to [the]

plaintiff and potential harm to the government which

does not even rise to the level of a preponderance of the

evidence”).

The Government argues that, although it would bear

the burden of demonstrating a compelling interest as part

of its affirmative defense at trial on the merits, the UDV

should have borne the burden of disproving the asserted

compelling interests at the hearing on the preliminary

8 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

injunction. This argument is foreclosed by our recent

decision in Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, 542

U. S. 656 (2004). In Ashcroft, we affirmed the grant of a

preliminary injunction in a case where the Government

had failed to show a likelihood of success under the com-

pelling interest test. We reasoned that “[a]s the Govern-

ment bears the burden of proof on the ultimate question of

[the challenged Act’s] constitutionality, respondents [the

movants] must be deemed likely to prevail unless the

Government has shown that respondents’ proposed less

restrictive alternatives are less effective than [enforcing

the Act].” Id., at 666. That logic extends to this case; here

the Government failed on the first prong of the compelling

interest test, and did not reach the least restrictive means

prong, but that can make no difference. The point re-

mains that the burdens at the preliminary injunction

stage track the burdens at trial.

The Government attempts to limit the rule announced

in Ashcroft to content-based restrictions on speech, but the

distinction is unavailing. The fact that Ashcroft involved

such a restriction was the reason the Government had the

burden of proof at trial under the First Amendment, see

id., at 665, but in no way affected the Court’s assessment

of the consequences of having that burden for purposes of

the preliminary injunction. Here the burden is placed

squarely on the Government by RFRA rather than the

First Amendment, see 42 U. S. C. §§2000bb–1(b), 2000bb–

2(3), but the consequences are the same. Congress’ ex-

press decision to legislate the compelling interest test

indicates that RFRA challenges should be adjudicated in

the same manner as constitutionally mandated applica-

tions of the test, including at the preliminary injunction

stage.

III

The Government’s second line of argument rests on the

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 9

Opinion of the Court

Controlled Substances Act itself. The Government con-

tends that the Act’s description of Schedule I substances

as having “a high potential for abuse,” “no currently ac-

cepted medical use in treatment in the United States,” and

“a lack of accepted safety for use . . . under medical super-

vision,” 21 U. S. C. §812(b)(1), by itself precludes any

consideration of individualized exceptions such as that

sought by the UDV. The Government goes on to argue

that the regulatory regime established by the Act—a

“closed” system that prohibits all use of controlled sub-

stances except as authorized by the Act itself, see Gonzales

v. Raich, 545 U. S. ___, ___ (2005) (slip op., at 10)—“cannot

function with its necessary rigor and comprehensiveness if

subjected to judicial exemptions.” Brief for Petitioners 18.

According to the Government, there would be no way to

cabin religious exceptions once recognized, and “the public

will misread” such exceptions as signaling that the sub-

stance at issue is not harmful after all. Id., at 23. Under

the Government’s view, there is no need to assess the

particulars of the UDV’s use or weigh the impact of an

exemption for that specific use, because the Controlled

Substances Act serves a compelling purpose and simply

admits of no exceptions.

A

RFRA, and the strict scrutiny test it adopted, contem-

plate an inquiry more focused than the Government’s

categorical approach. RFRA requires the Government to

demonstrate that the compelling interest test is satisfied

through application of the challenged law “to the per-

son”—the particular claimant whose sincere exercise of

religion is being substantially burdened. 42 U. S. C.

§2000bb–1(b). RFRA expressly adopted the compelling

interest test “as set forth in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U. S.

398 (1963) and Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U. S. 205 (1972).”

42 U. S. C. §2000bb(b)(1). In each of those cases, this

10 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

Court looked beyond broadly formulated interests justify-

ing the general applicability of government mandates and

scrutinized the asserted harm of granting specific exemp-

tions to particular religious claimants. In Yoder, for ex-

ample, we permitted an exemption for Amish children

from a compulsory school attendance law. We recognized

that the State had a “paramount” interest in education,

but held that “despite its admitted validity in the general-

ity of cases, we must searchingly examine the interests

that the State seeks to promote . . . and the impediment to

those objectives that would flow from recognizing the

claimed Amish exemption.” 406 U. S., at 213, 221 (empha-

sis added). The Court explained that the State needed “to

show with more particularity how its admittedly strong

interest . . . would be adversely affected by granting an

exemption to the Amish.” Id., at 236 (emphasis added).

In Sherbert, the Court upheld a particular claim to a

religious exemption from a state law denying unemploy-

ment benefits to those who would not work on Saturdays,

but explained that it was not announcing a constitutional

right to unemployment benefits for “all persons whose

religious convictions are the cause of their unemploy-

ment.” 374 U. S., at 410 (emphasis added). The Court

distinguished the case “in which an employee’s religious

convictions serve to make him a nonproductive member of

society.” Ibid.; see also Smith, 494 U. S., at 899

(O’Connor, J., concurring in judgment) (strict scrutiny “at

least requires a case-by-case determination of the ques-

tion, sensitive to the facts of each particular claim”).

Outside the Free Exercise area as well, the Court has

noted that “[c]ontext matters” in applying the compelling

interest test, Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U. S. 306, 327 (2003),

and has emphasized that “strict scrutiny does take ‘relevant

differences’ into account—indeed, that is its fundamental

purpose,” Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U. S. 200,

228 (1995).

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 11

Opinion of the Court

B

Under the more focused inquiry required by RFRA and

the compelling interest test, the Government’s mere invo-

cation of the general characteristics of Schedule I sub-

stances, as set forth in the Controlled Substances Act,

cannot carry the day. It is true, of course, that Schedule I

substances such as DMT are exceptionally dangerous.

See, e.g., Touby v. United States, 500 U. S. 160, 162 (1991).

Nevertheless, there is no indication that Congress, in classi-

fying DMT, considered the harms posed by the particular

use at issue here—the circumscribed, sacramental use of

hoasca by the UDV. The question of the harms from the

sacramental use of hoasca by the UDV was litigated be-

low. Before the District Court found that the Government

had not carried its burden of showing a compelling inter-

est in preventing such harms, the court noted that it could

not “ignore that the legislative branch of the government

elected to place materials containing DMT on Schedule I

of the [Act], reflecting findings that substances containing

DMT have ‘a high potential for abuse,’ and ‘no currently

accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,’

and that ‘[t]here is a lack of accepted safety for use of

[DMT] under medical supervision.’ ” 282 F. Supp. 2d, at

1254. But Congress’ determination that DMT should be

listed under Schedule I simply does not provide a categori-

cal answer that relieves the Government of the obligation

to shoulder its burden under RFRA.

This conclusion is reinforced by the Controlled Sub-

stances Act itself. The Act contains a provision authoriz-

ing the Attorney General to “waive the requirement for

registration of certain manufacturers, distributors, or

dispensers if he finds it consistent with the public health

and safety.” 21 U. S. C. §822(d). The fact that the Act

itself contemplates that exempting certain people from its

requirements would be “consistent with the public health

and safety” indicates that congressional findings with

12 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

respect to Schedule I substances should not carry the

determinative weight, for RFRA purposes, that the Gov-

ernment would ascribe to them.

And in fact an exception has been made to the Schedule

I ban for religious use. For the past 35 years, there has

been a regulatory exemption for use of peyote—a Schedule

I substance—by the Native American Church. See 21

CFR §1307.31 (2005). In 1994, Congress extended that

exemption to all members of every recognized Indian

Tribe. See 42 U. S. C. §1996a(b)(1). Everything the Gov-

ernment says about the DMT in hoasca—that, as a Sched-

ule I substance, Congress has determined that it “has a

high potential for abuse,” “has no currently accepted medi-

cal use,” and has “a lack of accepted safety for use . . .

under medical supervision,” 21 U. S. C. §812(b)(1)—

applies in equal measure to the mescaline in peyote, yet

both the Executive and Congress itself have decreed an

exception from the Controlled Substances Act for Native

American religious use of peyote. If such use is permitted

in the face of the congressional findings in §812(b)(1) for

hundreds of thousands of Native Americans practicing

their faith, it is difficult to see how those same findings

alone can preclude any consideration of a similar excep-

tion for the 130 or so American members of the UDV who

want to practice theirs. See Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye,

Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U. S. 520, 547 (1993) (“It is established

in our strict scrutiny jurisprudence that ‘a law cannot be

regarded as protecting an interest ‘of the highest order’ . . .

when it leaves appreciable damage to that supposedly

vital interest unprohibited’ ” (quoting Florida Star v.

B. J. F., 491 U. S. 524, 541–542 (1989) (SCALIA, J., concur-

ring in part and concurring in judgment))).

The Government responds that there is a “unique rela-

tionship” between the United States and the Tribes, Brief

for Petitioners 27; see Morton v. Mancari, 417 U. S. 535

(1974), but never explains what about that “unique” rela-

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 13

Opinion of the Court

tionship justifies overriding the same congressional findings

on which the Government relies in resisting any exception

for the UDV’s religious use of hoasca. In other words, if any

Schedule I substance is in fact always highly dangerous in

any amount no matter how used, what about the unique

relationship with the Tribes justifies allowing their use of

peyote? Nothing about the unique political status of the

Tribes makes their members immune from the health risks

the Government asserts accompany any use of a Schedule I

substance, nor insulates the Schedule I substance the Tribes

use in religious exercise from the alleged risk of diversion.

The Government argues that the existence of a congres-

sional exemption for peyote does not indicate that the Con-

trolled Substances Act is amenable to judicially crafted

exceptions. RFRA, however, plainly contemplates that

courts would recognize exceptions—that is how the law

works. See 42 U. S. C. §2000bb–1(c) (“A person whose

religious exercise has been burdened in violation of this

section may assert that violation as a claim or defense in a

judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a

government”). Congress’ role in the peyote exemption—and

the Executive’s, see 21 CFR §1307.31 (2005)—confirms that

the findings in the Controlled Substances Act do not pre-

clude exceptions altogether; RFRA makes clear that it is the

obligation of the courts to consider whether exceptions are

required under the test set forth by Congress.

C

The well-established peyote exception also fatally un-

dermines the Government’s broader contention that the

Controlled Substances Act establishes a closed regulatory

system that admits of no exceptions under RFRA. The

Government argues that the effectiveness of the Con-

trolled Substances Act will be “necessarily . . . undercut” if

the Act is not uniformly applied, without regard to bur-

dens on religious exercise. Brief for Petitioners 18. The

14 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

peyote exception, however, has been in place since the

outset of the Controlled Substances Act, and there is no

evidence that it has “undercut” the Government’s ability

to enforce the ban on peyote use by non-Indians.

The Government points to some pre-Smith cases relying

on a need for uniformity in rejecting claims for religious

exemptions under the Free Exercise Clause, see Brief for

Petitioners 16, but those cases strike us as quite different

from the present one. Those cases did not embrace the

notion that a general interest in uniformity justified a

substantial burden on religious exercise; they instead

scrutinized the asserted need and explained why the

denied exemptions could not be accommodated. In United

States v. Lee, 455 U. S. 252 (1982), for example, the Court

rejected a claimed exception to the obligation to pay Social

Security taxes, noting that “mandatory participation is

indispensable to the fiscal vitality of the social security

system” and that the “tax system could not function if de-

nominations were allowed to challenge the tax system

because tax payments were spent in a manner that violates

their religious belief.” Id., at 258, 260. See also Hernandez

v. Commissioner, 490 U. S. 680, 700 (1989) (same). In

Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U. S. 599 (1961) (plurality opinion),

the Court denied a claimed exception to Sunday closing

laws, in part because allowing such exceptions “might well

provide [the claimants] with an economic advantage over

their competitors who must remain closed on that day.” Id.,

at 608–609. The whole point of a “uniform day of rest for all

workers” would have been defeated by exceptions. See

Sherbert, 374 U. S., at 408 (discussing Braunfeld). These

cases show that the Government can demonstrate a compel-

ling interest in uniform application of a particular program

by offering evidence that granting the requested religious

accommodations would seriously compromise its ability to

administer the program.

Here the Government’s argument for uniformity is differ-

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 15

Opinion of the Court

ent; it rests not so much on the particular statutory program

at issue as on slippery-slope concerns that could be invoked

in response to any RFRA claim for an exception to a gener-

ally applicable law. The Government’s argument echoes the

classic rejoinder of bureaucrats throughout history: If I

make an exception for you, I’ll have to make one for every-

body, so no exceptions. But RFRA operates by mandating

consideration, under the compelling interest test, of excep-

tions to “rule[s] of general applicability.” 42 U. S. C.

§2000bb–1(a). Congress determined that the legislated test

“is a workable test for striking sensible balances between

religious liberty and competing prior governmental inter-

ests.” §200bb(a)(5). This determination finds support in our

cases; in Sherbert, for example, we rejected a slippery-

slope argument similar to the one offered in this case,

dismissing as “no more than a possibility” the State’s

speculation “that the filing of fraudulent claims by un-

scrupulous claimants feigning religious objections to Sat-

urday work” would drain the unemployment benefits fund.

374 U. S., at 407.

We reaffirmed just last Term the feasibility of case-by-

case consideration of religious exemptions to generally

applicable rules. In Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. ___

(2005), we held that the Religious Land Use and Institu-

tionalized Persons Act of 2000, which allows federal and

state prisoners to seek religious accommodations pursuant

to the same standard as set forth in RFRA, does not vio-

late the Establishment Clause. We had “no cause to be-

lieve” that the compelling interest test “would not be

applied in an appropriately balanced way” to specific

claims for exemptions as they arose. Id., at ___ (slip op.,

at 12). Nothing in our opinion suggested that courts were

not up to the task.

We do not doubt that there may be instances in which a

need for uniformity precludes the recognition of exceptions

to generally applicable laws under RFRA. But it would

16 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

have been surprising to find that this was such a case,

given the longstanding exemption from the Controlled

Substances Act for religious use of peyote, and the fact

that the very reason Congress enacted RFRA was to re-

spond to a decision denying a claimed right to sacramental

use of a controlled substance. See 42 U. S. C.

§2000bb(a)(4). And in fact the Government has not offered

evidence demonstrating that granting the UDV an exemp-

tion would cause the kind of administrative harm recog-

nized as a compelling interest in Lee, Hernandez, and

Braunfeld. The Government failed to convince the District

Court at the preliminary injunction hearing that health or

diversion concerns provide a compelling interest in ban-

ning the UDV’s sacramental use of hoasca. It cannot

compensate for that failure now with the bold argument

that there can be no RFRA exceptions at all to the Con-

trolled Substances Act. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 17 (Deputy

Solicitor General statement that exception could not be

made even for “rigorously policed” use of “one drop” of

substance “once a year”).

IV

Before the District Court, the Government also asserted

an interest in compliance with the 1971 United Nations

Convention on Psychotropic Substances, Feb. 21, 1971,

[1979–1980], 32 U. S. T. 543, T. I. A. S. No. 9725. The

Convention, signed by the United States and implemented

by the Controlled Substances Act, calls on signatories to

prohibit the use of hallucinogens, including DMT. The

Government argues that it has a compelling interest in

meeting its international obligations by complying with

the Convention.

The District Court rejected this interest because it found

that the Convention does not cover hoasca. The court

relied on the official commentary to the Convention, which

notes that “Schedule I [of the Convention] does not list . . .

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 17

Opinion of the Court

natural hallucinogenic materials,” and that “[p]lants as

such are not, and it is submitted are also not likely to be,

listed in Schedule I, but only some products obtained from

plants.” U. N. Commentary on the Convention on Psycho-

tropic Substances 387, 385 (1976). The court reasoned

that hoasca, like the plants from which the tea is made, is

sufficiently distinct from DMT itself to fall outside the

treaty. See 282 F. Supp. 2d, at 1266–1269.

We do not agree. The Convention provides that “a

preparation is subject to the same measures of control as

the psychotropic substance which it contains,” and defines

“preparation” as “any solution or mixture, in whatever

physical state, containing one or more psychotropic sub-

stances.” See 32 U. S. T., at 546, Art. 1(f)(i); id., at 551,

Art. 3. Hoasca is a “solution or mixture” containing DMT;

the fact that it is made by the simple process of brewing

plants in water, as opposed to some more advanced

method, does not change that. To the extent the commen-

tary suggests plants themselves are not covered by the

Convention, that is of no moment—the UDV seeks to

import and use a tea brewed from plants, not the plants

themselves, and the tea plainly qualifies as a “prepara-

tion” under the Convention.

The fact that hoasca is covered by the Convention,

however, does not automatically mean that the Govern-

ment has demonstrated a compelling interest in applying

the Controlled Substances Act, which implements the

Convention, to the UDV’s sacramental use of the tea. At

the present stage, it suffices to observe that the Govern-

ment did not even submit evidence addressing the inter-

national consequences of granting an exemption for the

UDV. The Government simply submitted two affidavits

by State Department officials attesting to the general

importance of honoring international obligations and of

maintaining the leadership position of the United States

in the international war on drugs. See Declaration of

18 GONZALES v. O CENTRO ESPIRITA BENEFICENTE

UNIAO DO VEGETAL

Opinion of the Court

Gary T. Sheridan (Jan. 24, 2001), App. G to App. to Pet.

for Cert. 261a; Declaration of Robert E. Dalton (Jan. 24,

2001), App. H, id., at 265a. We do not doubt the validity of

these interests, any more than we doubt the general inter-

est in promoting public health and safety by enforcing the

Controlled Substances Act, but under RFRA invocation of

such general interests, standing alone, is not enough.2

* * *

The Government repeatedly invokes Congress’ findings

and purposes underlying the Controlled Substances Act,

but Congress had a reason for enacting RFRA, too. Con-

gress recognized that “laws ‘neutral’ toward religion may

burden religious exercise as surely as laws intended to

interfere with religious exercise,” and legislated “the

compelling interest test” as the means for the courts to

“strik[e] sensible balances between religious liberty and

competing prior governmental interests.” 42 U. S. C.

§§2000bb(a)(2), (5).

We have no cause to pretend that the task assigned by

Congress to the courts under RFRA is an easy one. In-

deed, the very sort of difficulties highlighted by the Gov-

ernment here were cited by this Court in deciding that the

approach later mandated by Congress under RFRA was

not required as a matter of constitutional law under the

Free Exercise Clause. See Smith, 494 U. S., at 885–890.

But Congress has determined that courts should strike

sensible balances, pursuant to a compelling interest test

that requires the Government to address the particular

practice at issue. Applying that test, we conclude that the

courts below did not err in determining that the Govern-

ment failed to demonstrate, at the preliminary injunction

stage, a compelling interest in barring the UDV’s sacra-

——————

2 In light of the foregoing, we do not reach the UDV’s argument that

Art. 22, ¶5, of the Convention should be read to accommodate excep-

tions under domestic laws such as RFRA.

Cite as: 546 U. S. ____ (2006) 19

Opinion of the Court

mental use of hoasca.

The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for

the Tenth Circuit is affirmed, and the case is remanded for

further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

JUSTICE ALITO took no part in the consideration or

decision of this case.