Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for a unanimous court, said the government had not shown the harm in allowing 130 followers of a Brazilian sect from using their tea.

Bush administration lawyers had argued that the strict federal drug laws should prevail over their claim of religious freedom. They conceded the congregation's rituals involved a ''sincere exercise of religion,'' but U.S. customs officials nonetheless seized the shipments of sacramental tea known as ''hoasca.''

The congregation of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal sued to block the government's action, and it won at all levels of the federal court system.

Roberts pointed to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 measure in which Congress said officials should not burden religious practices except when there was a ''compelling'' need to do so.

In this case, Roberts said, the government had not demonstrated a compelling need. Instead, it has argued that the hallucinogen must be banned in all instances, he said.

''The government's argument echoes the classic rejoinder of bureaucrats throughout history: If I make an exception for you, I'll have to make one for everybody, so no exceptions,'' Roberts said.

He said the law requires the government to consider on a case-by-case basis whether its action could infringe on the freedom of religion.

New Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the ruling because he was not on the court when the case of Gonzales vs. O Centro Espirito was argued in November.

Meanwhile, in a short, unsigned opinion, the court reopened a racial discrimination lawsuit because a Tyson Foods Inc. plant manager had referred to two black men as ''boy."

Because the brief ruling spoke for all the justices, it constitutes the first ruling by Alito.