Peyote vs. The State: Religious Freedom on Trial

The story of the constitutional showdown over Native Americans’ religious use of peyote

With the grace of a novel, this book chronicles the six-year duel between two remarkable men with different visions of religious freedom in America.

Neither sought the conflict. Al Smith, a substance-abuse counselor to Native Americans, wanted only to earn a living. Dave Frohnmayer, the attorney general of Oregon, was planning his gubernatorial campaign and seeking care for his desperately ill daughters. But before this constitutional confrontation was over, Frohnmayer and Smith twice asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the First Amendment protects the right of American Indians to seek and worship God through the use of peyote. The Court finally said no.

Garrett Epps tracks the landmark case from the humblest hearing room to the Supreme Court chamber—and beyond. This paperback edition includes a new epilogue by the author that explores a retreat from the ruling since it was handed down in 1990. Weaving fascinating legal narrative with personal drama, Peyote vs. the State offers a riveting look at how justice works—and sometimes doesn’t—in America today.

A fascinating legal battle and a rich human story—an in-depth look at the controversial Supreme Court religious freedom case.

What exactly does the Constitution's promise of religious freedom protect? Who decides what beliefs and practices are worth protecting? Where does the law draw the line? For Al Smith, a Klamath Indian, the line was crossed when he was fired from his job for ingesting peyote as part of a Native American religious ceremony. Quickly escalating into one of the most heated constitutional confrontations in recent memory, this case prompted one of the Court's most shocking decisions. It would say that the Bill of Rights provided no protection for minority religions if the legislature chose not to recognize them. Vividly recreating this intense personal and legal drama, as well as the fierce backlash from religious groups across the nation, To An Unknown God is a provocative look at freedom in America.

About the Author:
Garrett Epps, a former reporter for The Washington Post, is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oregon and lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Publishers Weekly

Supreme Court Justice William Brennan's 1963 Sherbert decision declared that unemployment insurance couldn't be denied to a Seventh-Day Adventist for refusing to work on Saturdays. In 1990 the Sherbert precedent was abruptly and unexpectedly overturned in Justice Antonin Scalia's Employment Division v. Smith decision, denying unemployment insurance for a Native American alcoholism counselor fired for religious use of peyote. Epps, an Oregon law professor and former Washington Post reporter, tells the story of the high court's decision as a human drama involving Al Smith, a Klamath tribe member in his 60s with 27 years of sobriety when he was fired, and Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer, who designed and argued the case against Smith (without, as it happens, challenging Sherbert). Oregon was the only state that did not allow religious use of peyote, and its constitution guaranteed religious freedom in a peculiar way that could have invited a flood of challenges if Smith's claim prevailed. Smith's personal story is compelling: he had previously battled not only against alcoholism but against cultural annihilation, and he knew the importance of defending the use of peyote in Native American religion. On the other hand, Frohnmayer had fought against a religious cult, that of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, though that case involved the use of germ warfare. Epps provides a lively, powerful narrative to develop his drama (including a Frohnmayer family disease subplot that stirs sympathy but illuminates nothing central). In doing so, however, he leaves important issues unexplored, including the history, law and judicial philosophies involved. Readers with sophisticated knowledge of the subject may find this account wanting, but it touches on important issues that will appeal to a wide range of readers. Two b&w photos not seen by PW. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Garrett Epps, a former reporter for The Washington Post, has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and The New Republic. The author of two novels, he is currently an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oregon.