{"id":52725,"date":"2025-08-17T19:59:43","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T19:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/?p=52725"},"modified":"2025-08-17T19:59:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T19:59:43","slug":"supreme-court-will-decide-whether-inmates-can-sue-prison-workers-over-religious-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/supreme-court-will-decide-whether-inmates-can-sue-prison-workers-over-religious-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court will decide whether inmates can sue prison workers over religious violations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n null \/ Credit: Wolfgang Schaller\/Shutterstock<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

CNA Staff, Jun 24, 2025 \/ 12:37 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court this week said it will decide whether prisoners can sue individual prison workers \u2014 rather than merely the government itself \u2014 over violations of a key U.S. religious liberty law.<\/p>\n

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

The case concerns Damon Landor, a Rastafarian who as part of his religious belief took the \u201cNazarite Vow\u201d to let his hair grow out. While incarcerated at the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Cottonport, Louisiana, a guard shaved Landor\u2019s head, cutting off nearly two decades\u2019 worth of hair. <\/p>\n

Landor sued the state government under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a law that the U.S. Department of Justice zegt<\/a> requires states to \u201cnot place arbitrary or unnecessary restrictions on religious practice.\u201d <\/p>\n

Notably, Landor also sued the facility\u2019s warden, Marcus Myers, in the latter\u2019s individual capacity as well as Louisiana Department of Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ccannot seek money damages from officials in their individual capacities,\u201d the appeals court ruled.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling could either affirm the lower court rulings or explicitly expand the religious freedom law to allow individual lawsuits.<\/p>\n

In May, the federal government een amicus curiae-brief indiende<\/a> in support of Landor, citing earlier Supreme Court decisions that suggested the law allows for individual lawsuits. <\/p>\n

The issue is \u201cundeniably important,\u201d the government said in its filing, arguing that the religious liberty law was meant to be \u201cbroadly interpreted to protect religious exercise to the fullest extent allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to its protections for prisoners, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act \u2014 passed in 2000 \u2014 protects \u201cindividuals, houses of worship, and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws,\u201d Volgens<\/a> the Department of Justice. <\/p>\n

The measure \u201cprohibits zoning and landmarking laws\u201d that \u201csubstantially burden the religious exercise of churches or other religious assemblies or institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any burdens in zoning laws should be accomplished with \u201cthe least restrictive means of furthering a compelling governmental interest,\u201d the government said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/264961\/supreme-court-will-decide-whether-inmates-can-sue-prison-workers-over-religious-violations<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

null \/ Credit: Wolfgang Schaller\/Shutterstock CNA Staff, 24 juni 2025 \/ 12:37 uur (CNA). Het Hooggerechtshof heeft deze week laten weten dat het zal beslissen of gevangenen individuele gevangenismedewerkers kunnen aanklagen \u2014 in plaats van alleen de overheid zelf \u2014 wegens schendingen van een belangrijke Amerikaanse wet op de godsdienstvrijheid. Het hoogste gerechtshof verleende maandag certiorari in [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":60760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-52725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-news"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Supreme-Court-will-decide-whether-inmates-can-sue-prison-workers-over-religious-violations.webp?fit=800%2C521&quality=75&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50823,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/supreme-court-orders-new-york-to-revisit-abortion-mandate-case-after-religious-liberty-win\/","url_meta":{"origin":52725,"position":0},"title":"Supreme Court orders New York to revisit abortion mandate case after religious liberty win","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"juni 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"null \/ Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock CNA Staff, Jun 16, 2025 \/ 14:19 pm (CNA). 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The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to issue a ruling in a contentious case involving what was proposed to be the nation\u2019s first religious charter school, leaving untouched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian News"","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Oklahoma Catholic charter school loses Supreme Court bid for state approval","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Oklahoma-Catholic-charter-school-loses-Supreme-Court-bid-for-state-approval.webp?fit=800%2C521&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Oklahoma-Catholic-charter-school-loses-Supreme-Court-bid-for-state-approval.webp?fit=800%2C521&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Oklahoma-Catholic-charter-school-loses-Supreme-Court-bid-for-state-approval.webp?fit=800%2C521&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Oklahoma-Catholic-charter-school-loses-Supreme-Court-bid-for-state-approval.webp?fit=800%2C521&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":66017,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/native-american-group-loses-religious-freedom-appeal-at-supreme-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":52725,"position":2},"title":"Native American group loses religious freedom appeal at Supreme Court","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"november 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On Oct. 6, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a rehearing of the case filed by Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Native Americans and their supporters, that would have prevented the sale of a Native American sacred site to a mining company. \/ Credit: Photo courtesy of Becket CNA Staff,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian News"","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Native American group loses religious freedom appeal at Supreme Court","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Native-American-group-loses-religious-freedom-appeal-at-Supreme-Court.webp?fit=800%2C535&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Native-American-group-loses-religious-freedom-appeal-at-Supreme-Court.webp?fit=800%2C535&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Native-American-group-loses-religious-freedom-appeal-at-Supreme-Court.webp?fit=800%2C535&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Native-American-group-loses-religious-freedom-appeal-at-Supreme-Court.webp?fit=800%2C535&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":66008,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/cna-explains-when-can-catholic-employers-fire-employees-for-not-following-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":52725,"position":3},"title":"CNA explains: When can Catholic employers fire employees for not following the Church?","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"januari 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"null \/ Credit: Stephen Kiers\/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Oct 8, 2025 \/ 06:00 am (CNA). 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