Supreme Court Bars Landor’s Damages Suit in 6-3 Ruling as Gorsuch Cites Lack of Consent
Updated
Updated · Slate · Jun 23
Supreme Court Bars Landor’s Damages Suit in 6-3 Ruling as Gorsuch Cites Lack of Consent
3 articles · Updated · Slate · Jun 23
Summary
A 6-3 Supreme Court majority shut down Damon Landor’s bid to recover damages from Louisiana prison guards who shaved his dreadlocks despite his Rastafarian faith and a 2017 court ruling protecting such religious practice.
Justice Neil Gorsuch said the guards could not be sued personally under RLUIPA because, as state officials under a Spending Clause law, they had not “voluntarily and knowingly” consented to damages liability.
That holding leaves inmates largely to seek injunctions against prisons rather than money damages from individual officers, a remedy critics say can fail when prisoners are transferred before courts act.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent warned the new consent requirement could weaken enforcement of other federally funded laws beyond prisons, reaching areas such as civil rights, healthcare and environmental regulation.