"Play in the Joints": The Struggle to Define Permissive Accommodation Under the First Amendment‪.‬

INTRODUCTION In the two decades since the Supreme Court left open the door for permissive religious accommodation in Employment Division v. Smith, (1) the Court has only obscured the doctrine further by creating multiple and overlapping analytical frameworks. (2) Public schools in particular have been caught in the crossfire between the mandate of the Free Exercise Clause and the prohibition of the Establishment Clause. They must attempt to walk a tight rope over a jurisprudential minefield, while trying to meet the needs of increasingly diverse student bodies. (3)