Today, former Attorney General Ed Meese published an op-ed with Newsweek concerning a pending Supreme Court case, Fulton v. Philadelphia. The case concerns whether Catholic Social Services can participate in the city's foster care system. General Meese also submitted an amicus brief developing his argument in detail. Meese is urging the Supreme Court to overturn a past decision by Justice Antonin Scalia, certainly one of the Justice's most controversial, Employment Division v. Smith (1990). The matter in dispute is the most hotly debated question among religious liberty advocates - what is the extent of the protection for the free exercise of religion provided by the First Amendment? Meese's argument is rooted in the historical understanding at the time the First Amendment was adopted, an analysis that goes back to  his days as Attorney General. Smith held that if a law is neutral and generally applicable, it need not provide an exemption for free exercise. Meese argues that this test is unhistorical and of little use as the administrative state expands its tentacles.