Download or read book An Analysis of Federal and State Law Governing Public Schoolteachers' Religious Garb in Pennsylvania and Nebraska Under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment written by Nathan C. Walker and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was enacted in 1895 in response to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that held Catholic nuns were permitted to wear religious garb (habits) while teaching in public schools. Nebraska's anti-religious garb law, a replica of Pennsylvania's ban, was first enacted in 1919 and repealed in 2017. Although at the time this study was published (May 2018), the study notes that earlier attempts to repeal it failed. The study concludes the following: Pennsylvania's and Nebraska's statutory bans on teachers wearing religious garb in public schools (1) failed the general applicability test under Smith and (2) substantially burdened religions, as defined under the provisions in Sherbert and the Religious Freedom Protection Act (RFPA). The statutes (3) partially met the rational basis test, but when faced with strict scrutiny, the statutes (4) failed to meet the compelling interest and (5) narrowly tailored tests.