Word of the Week · Issue 008 · Week of 31 August 2026

UNNECESSARY

What it claims: An animal welfare standard. The ordinance restricts needless killing, and it names no faith, because it is not about faith.
What it does: Hialeah decided which killings were necessary. Hunting made the list. Exterminating rats made the list. Worship did not.
The receipt: They practiced in secret in order to survive it. The one time they tried to stop hiding, the city wrote a law.

A black-and-white photograph of the U.S. Supreme Court building's front facade, columns rising beneath a stormy sky, the frieze reading "EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW." — The Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C. Photo: Tim Mossholder / Unsplash.

Hialeah passed four ordinances in 1987 and the word Santeria appears in none of them. A law that names its target can be attacked. A law that does not has to be caught.

The prohibition is one word wide. It forbids sacrifice, then defines sacrifice as killing an animal unnecessarily in a ritual not for the primary purpose of food consumption. Somebody has to decide what is necessary. The Supreme Court found out who had. Hunting is necessary. Killing rats is necessary. Putting down a stray is necessary. Worship is not.

The ordinances fell in 1993. The congregation won, and the instrument was never confiscated. It takes a word like unnecessary, exemptions long enough to look even-handed, and patience.

Docket

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 535 (1993), Kennedy, J. 'It is a necessary conclusion that almost the only conduct subject to Ordinances 87-40, 87-52, and 87-71 is the religious exercise of Santeria church members. The texts show that they were drafted in tandem to achieve this result.' Quoted from the bound United States Reports. Trust tier: primary.

Read the file UNNECESSARY WR-FCT-020