RLUIPA

34 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-6517 Ammon Ra Sumrall v. Georgia Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2026-01-08 Pending IFP damages government-official individual-capacity religious-freedom rluipa statutory-interpretation The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. 2000cc et seq., like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 199…
25-6058 Raymond E. Lumsden v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, et al. Fifth Circuit 2025-11-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP equal-protection establishment-clause first-amendment prison-ministry religious-discrimination rluipa 1. Does.Texas' Partnership With The 'Heart'Of Texas College Of Ministry, A Solely Christian-Based Organization Housed And Operated On A Texas Prison…
25-5639 Fathiree Uddin Ali v. Stephen E. Adamson, Chaplain, et al. Sixth Circuit 2025-09-16 Pending Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP first-amendment individual-capacity injunctive-relief mootness religious-freedom rluipa Whether RLUIPA authorizes monetary damages against state officials in their individual capacities and whether claims for injunctive relief become moot…
24-1327 Spirit of Aloha Temple, a Hawaii Nonprofit Corporation, et al. v. Maui County, Hawaii, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-06-30 Denied Amici (1)Response Waived first-amendment municipal-jurisdiction religious-exercise rluipa substantial-burden zoning-permit Must a religious organization seeking to build a church prove that it is precluded from using other sites within a municipality's jurisdiction and/or …
24-1140 Peter Allan, Sr., et al. v. Minnesota Department of Human Services, et al. Eighth Circuit 2025-05-06 Denied Response Waived appellate-review civil-rights institutionalized-persons mootness-doctrine religious-land-use rluipa Whether the Eighth Circuit's mootness standard conflicts with Supreme Court precedent regarding policy amendments during litigation
24-6778 Jessie Hoffman v. Gary Westcott, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, et al. Fifth Circuit 2025-03-16 Dismissed IFP cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment execution-method nitrogen-gassing religious-freedom rluipa Whether a method of execution that superadds psychological suffering violates the Eighth Amendment's bar on cruel and unusual punishment; Whether exec…
24-5301 Derek J. DeGroot v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections, et al. Seventh Circuit 2024-08-12 Denied Response WaivedIFP equitable-exception federal-court jurisdictional-limitation mootness rluipa sua-sponte Whether the doctrine of mootness remains a jurisdictional limitation given equitable exceptions and the 'capable of repetition yet evading review' sta…
24-24 Marcelo Hernandez v. Hassan Alameddine, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-07-10 Denied 1983-claims 9th-circuit-review civil-procedure civil-rights due-process federal-courts federal-jurisdiction religious-freedom rluipa rluipa-violation tort-claims Does the 9th circuit have power to ignore U.S. Supreme Court ruling in, Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)
23-7574 Marcus Donte Middlebrook v. Kelly M. Wellman, et al. Sixth Circuit 2024-05-29 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights deliberate-indifference due-process free-exercise judicial-discretion medical-needs rluipa summary-judgment Did the US District Court judge abuse its discretion in adopting the magistrate's report and recommendation, granting the defendant's motion for summa…
23A854 Anthony Earl Ridley v. Laura Kelly, Governor of Kansas, et al. Kansas 2024-03-20 Presumed Complete administrative-exhaustion extraordinary-writ first-amendment religious-freedom rluipa standard-of-review Whether a state prisoner may seek extraordinary writ relief under 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a) when state appellate courts have considered a claim on the merit…
23-6429 Jan M. Gawlik v. Scott Semple, et al. Second Circuit 2024-01-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP administrative-remedies due-process free-exercise free-exercise-clause mailbox-rule property-rights religious-exercise rluipa summary-judgment Whether the Connecticut district court improperly applied the 'mailbox rule' in dismissing the plaintiff's timely administrative remedies/exhaustion c…
23-5669 Steven Grimm v. United States Ninth Circuit 2023-09-29 Denied Response WaivedIFP 18-usc-3582 2255-petition compassionate-release compassionate-relief district-court federal-prisoner first-amendment habeas-corpus religious-beliefs religious-exemption rluipa section-3582 Where a federal prisoner's religious beliefs prevented him from getting vaccinated, was it error for the district court to deny his motion for compass…
22-7780 John Thomas Entler v. Eric Jackson, et al. Washington 2023-06-13 Denied Response WaivedIFP burden-of-proof prison-regulations religiosity religious-accommodation religious-exercise rluipa sincerely-held-beliefs sincerity strict-scrutiny substantial-burden Whether prison officials can require prisoners to show centrality in religious exercise, and whether prison officials can regulate prisoners' sincerit…
22-7651 Lily Cassandra Alphonsis v. Joel Garnica, Deputy, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-05-26 Denied Response WaivedIFP americans-with-disabilities-act civil-rights due-process eighth-amendment excessive-force hijab-ban prison-administration religious-accommodation religious-freedom rluipa Whether a jail facility's ban on the hijab or religious head scarf worn for religious reasons was the least restrictive means of ensuring effective pr…
22-6742 Jan M. Gawlik v. Ned Lamont, Governor of Connecticut, et al. Connecticut 2023-02-10 Denied Response WaivedIFP conditions-of-confinement discrimination due-process first-amendment free-exercise religious-freedom rluipa symbolic-expression Whether the Connecticut Department of Corrections' policy of prohibiting incarcerated Catholics/Christians from openly displaying religious articles s…
22-6225 Jerome Kieffer v. United States Fifth Circuit 2022-12-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP constitutional-procedure criminal-law due-process federal-jurisdiction fourth-amendment imprisonment-rights religious-land-use rluipa sixth-amendment statutory-interpretation void-for-vagueness Whether the unconstitutionally vague language struck down by the Court in 18 U.S.C. 1030 applies to 18 U.S.C. 2232(a)(1)
22-6230 Derrick A. Edwards v. K. King, et al. Fourth Circuit 2022-12-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights compelling-interest constitutional-rights criminal-conviction evidence-challenge free-exercise judicial-review least-restrictive-means procedural-limitations RLUIPA substantial-burden substantive-due-process Whether RLUIPA requires the respondent to show that it lacks other means of achieving its desired goal without imposing a substantial burden on the pe…
22-6054 Stephen Barbee v. Bryan Collier, et al. Fifth Circuit 2022-11-15 Denied IFP capital-punishment execution-chamber fifth-circuit first-amendment free-exercise prison-litigation-reform-act prison-policy religious-rights rluipa spiritual-advisor Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in vacating the injunction requiring TDCJ to publish a clear policy on religious expression in the execution chamber
22-309 City of Salinas, California v. New Harvest Christian Fellowship Ninth Circuit 2022-09-30 Denied Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) circuit-split civil-rights equal-terms equal-terms-provision facial-challenge land-use-regulation religious-land-use rluipa zoning zoning-ordinance What must a RLUIPA plaintiff show in a facial 'equal terms' challenge?
22-260 Burtonsville Associates, et al. v. Montgomery County, Maryland, et al. Fourth Circuit 2022-09-20 Denied church-construction equal-terms equal-terms-claim free-exercise religious-exercise religious-land-use rluipa substantial-burden zoning zoning-denial Must a congregation prove reasonable expectation of zoning approval to establish substantial burden under RLUIPA?
22-108 Richard R. Watkinson v. Alaska Department of Corrections, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-08-03 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (5) free-exercise free-exercise-clause government-neutrality prisoner-rights religious-accommodation religious-accommodations rluipa strict-scrutiny substantial-burden Does the Free Exercise Clause permit a prison to deny accommodations to the Petitioner for his religious exercise that it already allows for secular a…
21-1405 Lester J. Smith v. Timothy C. Ward, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2022-05-06 Denied Amici (8) accommodation circuit-court-review circuit-split civil-rights deference penological-interests prison-policy prisoners-rights religious-freedom religious-liberty rluipa Whether the Eleventh Circuit erred in applying RLUIPA when it held that Georgia need not grant a religious accommodation offered in 39 other prison sy…
21-7282 Joshua Davis Bland v. Kathleen Allison, Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-03-04 Denied IFP censorship compelling-interest equal-protection fourteenth-amendment least-restrictive-means r-l-u-i-p-a religious-freedom religious-practice rluipa Does a state prison have the right to void an inmate's religious practice?
21-5592 John H. Ramirez v. Bryan Collier, Executive Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, et al. Fifth Circuit 2021-09-07 Judgment Issued Amici (17)IFP compelling-governmental-interest compelling-state-interest execution-protocol free-exercise free-exercise-clause free-speech least-restrictive-means pastoral-support religious-land-use-and-institutionalized-persons-a religious-rights rluipa Does the State's decision to restrict a pastor's religious practices during an execution substantially burden the free exercise of religion under the …
20-7028 Amos Mast, et al. v. Fillmore County, Minnesota, et al. Minnesota 2021-02-03 GVR Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (9)IFP compelling-interest government-interest judicial-review least-restrictive-alternative religious-freedom rluipa strict-scrutiny When applying strict scrutiny under RLUIPA, can lower courts rely upon an admission that an interest is compelling generally, or must they require the…
20-6258 Arthur L. Campbell v. Cynthia Gause, et al. Sixth Circuit 2020-11-09 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights first-amendment free-exercise islam judicial-review prison-policy religious-freedom rluipa statutory-interpretation substantial-burden Whether the Sixth Circuit committed plain error, contrary to 42 U.S.C. §2000cc et seq., when it abdicated the responsibility, conferred by Congress on…
20-14 Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov, Inc., et al. v. Village of Pomona, New York, et al. Second Circuit 2020-07-10 Denied Amici (2)Response RequestedRelisted (2) article-iii article-iii-standing fair-housing-act free-exercise institutionalized-persons-act municipal-law property-rights religious-exercise religious-land-use rluipa standing zoning-law Whether an owner of real property has Article III standing to challenge a municipality's zoning law that prohibits the owner's proposed religious land…
19-8695 Ruben Gutierrez v. Luis V. Saenz, et al. Fifth Circuit 2020-06-15 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (12)IFP compelling-interest execution execution-protocol first-amendment free-exercise free-exercise-clause religious-accommodation religious-adviser religious-exercise rluipa spiritual-aid Whether the State's policy of denying a religious adviser to a condemned prisoner during execution violates RLUIPA and the Free Exercise Clause
19-6985 Boaz Pleasant-Bey v. Shelby County, Tennessee, et al. Sixth Circuit 2019-12-18 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-procedure appropriate-relief circuit-court-conflict first-amendment-free-exercise inmate-led-religious-services inmate-rights qualified-immunity rluipa rluipa-appropriate-relief-clause sixth-circuit trial-on-merits trial-on-the-merits Whether RLUIPA's 'appropriate relief' clause encompasses the requested relief of a trial on the merits
18-9832 Patrick H. Murphy v. Bryan Collier, Executive Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, et al. Fifth Circuit 2019-06-27 Denied Amici (1)IFP civil-rights death-penalty death-row due-process establishment-clause free-exercise free-exercise-clause pastoral-accompaniment religious-liberty rluipa When a death-sentenced inmate informs prison authorities a month in advance of his scheduled execution date of his desire to be accompanied during the…
18A1334 Robert E. Carter, Commissioner, Indiana Department of Correction, Robert E v. Roman Lee Jones Seventh Circuit 2019-06-19 Presumed Complete diet-restriction first-amendment prisoner-rights religious-accommodation rluipa substantial-burden Whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act requires a prisoner to demonstrate severe financial hardship to establish a substanti…
18-9649 Boaz Pleasant-Bey v. Tennessee Department of Corrections, et al. Sixth Circuit 2019-06-13 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process free-exercise halal-diet prison religious-freedom rluipa substantial-burden Whether RLUIPA prohibits the Defendants from placing a substantial burden upon Petitioner's religious exercise
18-8250 Joel Marvin Munt v. Minnesota Department of Corrections, et al. Eighth Circuit 2019-03-04 Dismissed Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment 8th-circuit appellate-review civil-procedure civil-rights due-process encourage-prisons-to-utilize-transfers-to-moot-sui judicial-discretion mootness mootness-doctrine prisoner-rights rluipa rluipa-standard standing Did the 8th Circuit incorrectly apply the mootness standard and encourage prisons to utilize transfers to moot suits?
18-944 Tree of Life Christian Schools v. City of Upper Arlington, Ohio Sixth Circuit 2019-01-18 Denied Amici (9)Relisted (2) circuit-split conditional-use-permit discrimination equal-terms equal-terms-provision facial-or-as-applied-violation free-exercise nonprofit-organization religious-land-use religious-land-use-and-institutionalized-persons-a rluipa standing tax-revenue zoning zoning-code What is the proper test for a RLUIPA equal-terms claim?