According to the landmark Supreme Court decision in the case of Employment Division v. Smith, laws that restrict religious practices are constitutional so long as they are “neutral” and “generally applicable,” and don’t single out religion per se, or a particular religion. Justice Samuel Alito recently challenged this ruling, bringing as examples laws that might prohibit kosher slaughter, circumcision, or the wearing of head coverings in court. Such legislation, Alito noted, would severely restrict Jewish (and Muslim) practice, yet could still be written in a way that would be acceptable according to Smith. Josh Blackman, Howard Slugh, and Mitchell Rocklin explore these examples:

A neutral law to prohibit ritual kosher slaughter would likely be constitutional under Smith. . . . In recent years, animal-rights advocates have argued that ritual kosher slaughter inflicts undue pain on animals. In 2019, Belgium required that all animals be stunned before they are slaughtered. The stunning may involve an electric shock, or, for larger animals, firing a metal rod into the brain. This law was designed to prevent animals from feeling pain. But the laws of kashrut [prohibit such practices].

In effect, Belgium made it illegal to perform kosher slaughter. Muslims also argued that the law prohibited ritual halal slaughter. Yet the European Court of Justice, the highest court of the European Union, upheld the Belgian law. The court found that the Belgian laws “allow a fair balance to be struck between the importance attached to animal welfare and the freedom of Jewish and Muslim believers to manifest their religion and are, therefore, proportionate.”

Other countries have followed Belgium’s lead. Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, and Sweden have enacted similar bans without exemptions for religious communities.

If this is so, why does the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)—along with other Jewish groups—insist on supporting Smith?

The ADL worries that granting exemptions from anti-discrimination laws, for example, could harm vulnerable minorities.

While we acknowledge the force of this argument, the ADL’s fear is, in fact, ultimately unfounded. Even if Smith were overturned, religious liberty would not automatically trump the state’s other interests. In a post-Smith world, the government could still burden religious exercise if it demonstrated that doing so was the least restrictive means to further a compelling government interest. This analysis would require a case-by-case consideration. Overruling Smith would not lead to the elimination of the core anti-discrimination laws that allow unpopular minorities to fully participate in American life.

On the same day the cease-fire went into effect along the Israel-Lebanon border, rebel forces launched an unexpected offensive, and within a few days captured much of Aleppo. This lightening advance originated in the northwestern part of the country, which has been relatively quiet over the past four years, since Bashar al-Assad effectively gave up on restoring control over the remaining rebel enclaves in the area. The fighting comes at an inopportune moment for the powers that Damascus has called on for help in the past: Russia is bogged down in Ukraine and Hizballah has been shattered.

But the situation is extremely complex. David Wurmser points to the dangers that lie ahead:

The desolation wrought on Hizballah by Israel, and the humiliation inflicted on Iran, has not only left the Iranian axis exposed to Israeli power and further withering. It has altered the strategic tectonics of the Middle East. The story is not just Iran anymore. The region is showing the first signs of tremendous geopolitical change. And the plates are beginning to move.

The removal of the religious-totalitarian tyranny of the Iranian regime remains the greatest strategic imperative in the region for the United States and its allies, foremost among whom stands Israel. . . . However, as Iran’s regime descends into the graveyard of history, it is important not to neglect the emergence of other, new threats. navigating the new reality taking shape.

The retreat of the Syrian Assad regime from Aleppo in the face of Turkish-backed, partly Islamist rebels made from remnants of Islamic State is an early skirmish in this new strategic reality. Aleppo is falling to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS—a descendant of Nusra Front led by Abu Mohammed al-Julani, himself a graduate of al-Qaeda’s system and cobbled together of IS elements. Behind this force is the power of nearby Turkey.