Gonzales v. O Centro Esporita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal

Summary

In 1999, federal officials seized 30 gallons of a tea brewed from a Brazilian plant called “hoasca” from the home of Jeffrey Bronfman, President of the United States Chapter of a Brazilian religious group called O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal (UDV).

UDV members take communion by drinking hoasca, but the tea contains a hallucinogen regulated under the Controlled Substances Act. After federal officials threatened to prosecute Bronfman, the UDV filed a lawsuit alleging that the government violated its religious freedom by preventing members from drinking hoasca.

Both a federal district court and a federal appeals court ruled that the government did not prove a compelling interest in barring the UDV from using hoasca. After government officials appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Alliance Defending Freedom funded an amicus brief in support of the religious group.

In February 2006, the Supreme Court affirmed that the government did not show a compelling interest in preventing the UDV from using hoasca as a religious sacrament . The decision provided an important legal framework for the protection of religious liberty .