Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah
This case is an interesting case in which a church and its affiliate’s sacrifices animals as its religion. This organization felt that they were not treated equal to other religious organizations and decides to file a case upon the city they want to locate that does not believe in such act.
Facts
Santeria is a type of religion that sacrifices animals, in which the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye is one that participates in this ritual. This church wanted to locate to the city of Hialeah in Florida to establish its church. However, before the church was granted this move the city council held an emergency public session to pass three laws outlawing any animal sacrifices in connection with Santeria rituals (Case Brief, 2015). The idea of having this church located in the city was disturbing to residents, therefore, the followers of the Santeria religion decided to file a case against the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, seeking the City of Hialeah ordinance as unconstitutional. Another fact about this case is that although the city created the law
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The laws established by the city wanted to protect the safety, welfare, and health of surrounding residents to keep the killing of animals away from the city’s boundaries. However, when passing three laws to prevent animal sacrifices the city was unknowingly unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy stated his opinion in court that the laws in question were enacted by officials who did not understand, failed to perceive, or chose to ignore the fact that their official actions violates the Nation’s essential commitment to religious freedom (Cornell University Law School, 2015). So the major issue in this case is that city ordinances passed to prevent animal sacrifices were ruled as invalid by the Supreme