Peyote Way Church of God, Inc. v. Smith

• Decision Date: 24 September 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-1587,83-1587
• Citation: 742 F.2d 193
• Parties: PEYOTE WAY CHURCH OF GOD, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William F. SMITH, Attorney General of the United States and Jim Mattox, Attorney General of the State of Texas, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 193

742 F.2d 193

PEYOTE WAY CHURCH OF GOD, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William F. SMITH, Attorney General of the United States and Jim Mattox, Attorney General of the State of Texas, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 83-1587.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Sept. 24, 1984.

Richard A. Allen, Raymond E. White, American Civ. Liberties Union, Dallas, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant.

Jim Mattox, Atty. Gen., Leslie A. Benitez, Charles A. Palmer, Asst. Attys. Gen., Austin, Tex., for defendants-appellees.

William F. Smith, Atty. Gen., John T. Bannon, Jr., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Crim.Div., Washington, D.C., for federal defendants.

Elizabeth S. Bernstein, Dept. of Justice, Window Rock, Ariz., for amicus curiae Navajo Nation.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before BROWN, GEE, and RUBIN, Circuit Judges.

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

Under both federal and Texas law, the possession or distribution of peyote is a criminal act. The Peyote Way Church of God, Inc. ("the Church") seeks a declaration that these statutes are unconstitutional because they deny it freedom of religion, infringe the equal protection clause by denying to it the exemption accorded to members of the Native American Church, and deny it due process by making an arbitrary distinction between it and the Native American Church. By summary judgment, the district court upheld the constitutionality of both federal and state statutes. In the face of the Church's declaration that it considers peyote divine, an embodiment of the deity, and the use of peyote a sacrament, the record does not show a compelling state interest in denying its members the right to use peyote in religious ceremonies or that the denial was narrowly drawn to attain the important governmental purpose. Hence, we remand for further proceedings to determine whether the statutory proscriptions deny to members of the Church the right freely to exercise their religion.

I.

The district court rendered summary judgment in favor of the defendants. We may sustain that ruling only if there is no "genuine issue as to any material fact." ¹ In making this determination, any inferences to be drawn from the evidentiary record must be viewed in the light most favorable to the Church. ² We recite therefore the Church's version of the facts.

In 1948 Immanuel P. Trujillo, currently the President of the Church, became a member of the Native American Church, a peyotist religion that admits only persons whose ethnic descent is at least 25% derived from American Indian stock and their spouses (whether Indian or not). Objecting to this racial exclusion, Trujillo joined others in the 1960's in founding an "all-race group" within the Native American Church. Later, he became dissatisfied with what he viewed as continuing discrimination by the national governing body of the Native American Church against the non-Indian members of the all-race group and with that church's failure to recognize the teachings of Joseph Smith, and he became increasingly aware of the cultural and educational differences between the all-race group and the main membership. With others, Indian and non-Indian, ³ he left the Native American Church about 1966 and established a church that evolved into the Peyote Way Church.

The Church professes what it describes as a Christian peyotist religion, basing its theology on the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the doctrine and covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, and its own bylaws and points of order. Members of the Church ingest peyote as a sacrament, and worship it as the embodiment of God, hence a deity. The single place of worship is located on a ranch in the southern Arizona desert.

Peyote is a small spineless cactus that grows along the Rio Grande River. Its stems have jointed tubercules or "buttons" that, when ingested, have a hallucinogenic effect. Peyote can be found in quantities sufficient for the Church's practices only in southern Texas. This drug, the Church asserts, enables its members to reach an awareness of the presence of God within them and to examine their consciences. They ingest it only in a sacramental tea on the first Sunday of every month or during a religious ritual called a spirit walk, a trip into the wilderness to commune with the Creator by either one member alone or two or three members together. A member may participate in such a spirit walk once every two or three months.

Today the Church has five resident and about 150 non-resident members, of whom only about 50 are active. Its doctrine emphasizes simplicity, sobriety, and hard work. The Church is self-supporting, deriving most of its non-donated income from the sale of pottery. Among other community activities, it operates a "rescue mission" for runaways, alcoholics, and drug addicts.

The Church contends that it strives to maintain strict controls over the possession and distribution of peyote. It states that it keeps records of peyote receipts and distributions; limits the number of people who have control over its peyote supply; imposes stringent membership requirements (including a 48-hour fast period and actual presence at the Church); records memberships in the local county clerk's office; and requires sincerity of belief for the receipt of peyote. The Church has also expressed willingness to cooperate with federal and state agencies in the control of peyote, to conform to any regulations restricting the use of peyote to religious ceremonies, and to maintain such records of its possession and use as the two governments may require.

The Church distributes and uses peyote only for religious purposes, and any other use is considered sacrilegious. It forbids the use of controlled substances other than peyote. It does not distribute peyote to any person under the age of eighteen years. In view of the dispute concerning these facts, we disregard innuendo by the government about the character of Trujillo and disputed factual assertions that members of the Church distribute peyote to non-members. We do accept as proved, because of testimony by Church members, the facts that the Church does distribute small quantities of peyote to some non-members, to alcoholics in the course of treatment, and to persons who are seeking membership in the course of determining their interest in becoming Church members.

The Church seeks a judgment declaring that the federal statutes prohibiting the possession, use, and distribution of controlled substances ⁴ are unconstitutional under the first and the substantive due process clause of the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution as applied to the possession and use of peyote by the Church's members; that the statutes of Texas ⁵ when thus applied are also unconstitutional under the first and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and the freedom of religion clause of the Texas Constitution; ⁶ that the federal regulation granting an exemption from the federal peyote laws to the Native American Church, is unconstitutional on its face and as applied to Church members; ⁷ and that the Texas statutory exemption is also unconstitutional. The Church also seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions against enforcement of these federal and Texas laws and regulations.

The district court held an evidentiary hearing on the Church's motion for a preliminary injunction, denied the injunction, then later granted the defendants' motions for summary judgment, without assigning reasons. Although the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not state that evidence adduced at a hearing may support a summary judgment, we have affirmed judgments resting on such evidence when the testimony is uncontradicted with the result that the factual basis for judgment admits no genuine controversy about material matters. ⁸ For purposes of the present appeal, we must, however, assume the correctness of the Church's version of all disputed facts. ⁹ On the basis of this assumption, we discuss the legal issues without the benefit of an opinion or legal conclusions from the trial court. While the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not command a district court to set forth its reasons for rendering summary judgment, we have repeatedly urged district courts to do so, ¹⁰ for appellate review should not be based on speculation concerning the reason for a trial court's cryptic judgment or exhaustion of all possible bases for it. For these reasons we have frequently remanded cases to obtain the trial court's reasoning. We do not do so in this case only because the issues have been fully briefed and argued, and we consider that the parties and the district court should have guidance concerning applicable constitutional principles.

II.

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 prohibits the distribution, the possession with intention to distribute, and the possession without a prescription of a number of substances, including peyote. ¹¹ Peyote is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. ¹² The statute permits the Attorney General to classify other substances in Schedule I if three findings are made: the substance has a high potential for abuse; it has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States; and there is a "lack of accepted safety" for use of the substance under medical supervision. ¹³ Presumably the listing of peyote in Schedule I implies a congressional finding that peyote meets all of these criteria, including its dangerous qualities even when used under medical supervision because of the "lack of accepted safety."

The major active ingredient in peyote is mescaline. Mescaline is a hallucinogen whose effects are similar to those of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). It may produce alteration of consciousness, evidenced by confused mental states and dreamlike revivals of past traumatic events, alteration of sensory perception, evidenced by visual illusions and distortion...