Supreme Court will decide whether inmates can sue prison workers over religious violations

CNA Staff, Jun 24, 2025 / 12:37 pm (CNA).

The Supreme Court this week said it will decide whether prisoners can sue individual prison workers — rather than merely the government itself — over violations of a key U.S. religious liberty law.

The high court on Monday granted certiorari in the case Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety. Oral arguments for the case are expected to take place this fall.

The case concerns Damon Landor, a Rastafarian who as part of his religious belief took the “Nazarite Vow” to let his hair grow out. While incarcerated at the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Cottonport, Louisiana, a guard shaved Landor’s head, cutting off nearly two decades’ worth of hair.

Landor sued the state government under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a law that the U.S. Department of Justice says requires states to “not place arbitrary or unnecessary restrictions on religious practice.”

Notably, Landor also sued the facility’s warden, Marcus Myers, in the latter’s individual capacity as well as Louisiana Department of Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc.

Both a district court and the U.S Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit dismissed the personal lawsuits, citing precedent barring such actions. Individuals “cannot seek money damages from officials in their individual capacities,” the appeals court ruled.

The Supreme Court’s ruling could either affirm the lower court rulings or explicitly expand the religious freedom law to allow individual lawsuits.

In May, the federal government filed an amicus brief in support of Landor, citing earlier Supreme Court decisions that suggested the law allows for individual lawsuits.

The issue is “undeniably important,” the government said in its filing, arguing that the religious liberty law was meant to be “broadly interpreted to protect religious exercise to the fullest extent allowed.”

In addition to its protections for prisoners, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act — passed in 2000 — protects “individuals, houses of worship, and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws,” according to the Department of Justice.

The measure “prohibits zoning and landmarking laws” that “substantially burden the religious exercise of churches or other religious assemblies or institutions.”

Any burdens in zoning laws should be accomplished with “the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling governmental interest,” the government said.