Blog Round-Up – Wednesday, November 2nd

In non-nomination news:

Election Law Blog has this post on whether or not Congress should use the renewal of the Voting Rights Act to overrule Section 5’s interepretation in the Supreme Court’s Bossier Parish cases.

This week, the Legal Affairs Debate Club asks, Are Illegal Drugs Legal in Church? Marci A. Hamilton, the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Cardozo School of Law and Garrett Epps, Orlando John & Marian H. Hollis Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law are this week’s debaters.
According to Legal Affairs:

Six years ago, customs agents seized packages of “tea extract” from Brazil headed to O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, a small church in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the boxes was hoasca, a plant extract that’s a potent hallucinogen and that the church brews in tea as part of its religious ceremonies. While the First Amendment protects Americans’ religious freedom, it may not protect their use of a controlled substance.

For salvation, the church is looking to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act—which generally prohibits the government from limiting the religious use of controlled substances. This week, the Supreme Court will consider whether RFRA protects the church. Why can’t the group continue to brew their hallucinogenic tea?