Smith also served on the Criminal Rules Advisory Committee of the United States Judicial Conference from 1993 to 1999. In addition, Smith is a member of the American Law Institute, the Federal Judges Association, the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Smith has taught and lectured in rule-of-law programs throughout the world. In early 2020, he was one of four federal judges named to the Federal Judiciary's COVID-19 Task Force. "Petruska v. Gannon Univ", 462 F.3d 294, 307 (3d Cir. 2006), cited with approval in "Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission", 132 S. Ct. 694, 705 n.2, 709 n.4 (2012): Smith adopted the ministerial exception, which "operates to bar any claim, which would have limited the religious institution's right to select who will perform particular spiritual functions." "Washington v. Klem", 497 F.3d 272 (3d Cir. 2007): Smith held that under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) a "substantial burden" to a prisoner's religious practice exists when one is forced to choose between following his religious principles or giving up benefits otherwise available to other inmates versus abandoning one of the religious principles in order to receive a benefit. "United States v. Stevens", 533 F.3d 218 (3d Cir. 2008), en banc: "affirmed" 130 S. Ct. 1577 (2010): Smith held that 18 U.S.C. § 48, which makes it illegal to create or sell pictures of animal cruelty, is unconstitutional because it infringes on the First Amendment right to free speech. "United States v. Green", 617 F.3d 233, 240-48 (3d Cir. 2010). In deciding whether evidence was intrinsic to the charged offense or extrinsic and subject to Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), Smith reviewed the legal history of intrinsic evidence and rejected the inextricably intertwined test, limiting intrinsic evidence to two narrow categories. "Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, Inc.," 561 F.3d 233 (3d Cir. 2009), "affirmed" 131 S. Ct. 1068 (2011): Smith held that plaintiff's negligent design defect claim was preempted by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. "United States v. Tomko", 562 F.3d 558, 568 (3d Cir. 2009) (en banc): Smith used the abuse of discretion standard and held that "if the district court's sentence is procedurally sound, we will affirm it unless no reasonable sentencing court would have imposed the same sentence on that particular defendant for the reasons the district court provided."