Cutter v. Wilkinson
The plaintiffs in this case are Ohio prisoners who contend that various Ohio corrections officials have violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by refusing to accommodate the prisoners' religious beliefs and practices. In response, the prison officials challenged the constitutionality of RLUIPA, alleging, among other claims, that the act improperly advanced religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The district court, adopting the recommendations of the magistrate judge, denied the prison officials' motion to dismiss.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed, holding that RLUIPA violated the Establishment Clause. The effect of the statute is to elevate the level of judicial review of restrictions imposed by prison officials on religious practice. Under traditional First Amendment doctrine, such a restriction would be subject to “rational relationship” review, which examines whether there is a “valid, rational connection” between the prison regulation and a legitimate government interest, and whether inmates have alternative means of exercising their religious freedoms. U nder RLUIPA, the restriction is given “strict scrutiny,” which requires prison officials, rather than the inmate, to prove that the regulation furthers a compelling penological interest and is the least restrictive means of satisfying this interest. In practice, RLUIPA imposes a switch from a scheme of deference to prison officials to one in which the regulation is presumptively unconstitutional. According to the sixth circuit, RLUIPA's legislative history offers no evidence that religious rights are at any greater danger of deprivation in prison than are other fundamental rights. Accordingly, such heightened scrutiny impermissibly advances religion by giving greater protection to religious rights than to other constitutionally protected rights.
Question Presented:
Whether Congress violated the Establishment Clause by enacting the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-1 through §
2000cc-5, which requires state officials to lift unnecessary governmental burdens imposed on the religious exercise of institutionalized persons under their control.
