Sherbert v. Verner - Sherbert Test

Named for the 1963 Supreme Court case Sherbert v. Verner, the Sherbert test greatly expanded the religious free-exercise clause in the First Amendment. The test weighs the free-exercise rights of a citizen against the rights of a state to regulate religious actions. Prior to the Sherbert test, a state could regulate the religious actions of citizens by proving it had a rational basis for doing so. As long as a state could satisfy the rational-basis burden--and it was not difficult to do so--the state's actions were considered constitutional.

However, the Sherbert test changed that by placing a greater burden onto the state. The test required a state government to demonstrate a "compelling interest," such as public health and safety, to justify restricting or infringing on a citizen's religious free-exercise rights. A state could only justify those types of action when it provided a "compelling interest" to do so.