Washington — The Splendid Court docket mentioned Monday that it’ll believe a non secular rights case introduced via a former Louisiana inmate who is looking for to sue Louisiana jail officers for cash damages for shaving his dreadlocks in violation of his non secular ideals.
The top court docket will evaluation a call from the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the fifth Circuit that mentioned the previous inmate, Damon Landor, may just no longer search financial damages towards the officers of their particular person capacities below the Non secular Land Use and Institutionalized Individuals Act, or RLUIPA.
Landor is a religious Rastafarian who pledged to “let the locks of the hair of his head develop,” referred to as the Nazarite Vow. Landor upheld that pledge for almost two decades, till he was once just about completed with a five-month jail sentence in Louisiana.
For the primary 4 months of his incarceration, the 2 amenities the place Landor was once housed allowed him to stay his hair lengthy or below a “rastacap.” However that modified after Landor was once transferred to the Raymond Laborde Correctional Middle for the overall 3 weeks of his sentence. As soon as there, Landor informed an consumption guard that he was once a working towards Rastafarian and passed over evidence of his non secular lodging, in addition to a replica of a 2017 resolution from the fifth Circuit that discovered Louisiana’s coverage of chopping Rastafarians’ hair violated RLUIPA, consistent with court docket filings.
However two guards in the end handcuffed Landor to a chair, held him down and had his head shaved, consistent with papers filed with the Splendid Court docket.
Landor filed a lawsuit towards the jail officers after he was once launched and taken a large number of claims, together with below the RLUIPA. However a federal choose agreed to disregard the case, discovering that the legislation does no longer permit for damages towards particular person state officers.
A 3-judge panel of judges at the fifth Circuit affirmed that call, ruling that whilst it “emphatically” condemned Landor’s remedy, a previous resolution within the circuit required it to carry that he may just no longer search cash damages from officers of their particular person capacities for violations of RLUIPA.
The overall fifth Circuit refused to rethink the case, with 11 judges balloting to not rehear it and 6 balloting in desire.
The case follows a Splendid Court docket resolution from December 2020 wherein it unanimously held that the Non secular Freedom Recovery Act, RLUIPA’s sister statute, permits litigants to acquire cash damages towards federal officers of their particular person capacities.
Attorneys for Landor argued that Congress enacted the 2 regulations to supply significant coverage for non secular liberty, and denying litigants the chance to hunt damages for violations of RLUIPA would render that promise empty.
Louisiana officers mentioned in court docket papers that the allegations raised in Landor’s attraction are “antithetical to non secular freedom and truthful remedy of state prisoners,” and condemned them “within the most powerful imaginable phrases.” However they advised the Splendid Court docket to show away his attraction and mentioned the state amended its jail grooming coverage to forestall different inmates from being handled as Landor was once.
The justices will pay attention arguments in its subsequent time period, which starts in October, with a call anticipated via the summer time of 2026.