{"id":607,"date":"2026-06-23T21:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607"},"modified":"2026-06-23T21:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:08:00","slug":"scotus-blocks-rastafarian-man-from-suing-prison-guards-who-shaved-his-dreadlocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n

Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a <\/span><\/i>quick donation<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Read more UN Commission Finds 30 Percent of Those Killed in Gaza Genocide Were Children<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In a Monday morning decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a formerly incarcerated individual, denying his right to sue the state of Louisiana for violating his Rastafarian beliefs by forcibly shaving his hair.<\/p>\n

The case is notable in that, while this iteration of the high court has made numerous decisions defending right-wing Christians\u2019 purported First Amendment religious freedoms, it is denying the same level of protection to non-Christians whose rights have been blatantly violated. <\/p>\n

Damon Landor was nearing the end of a five-month prison sentence in 2020 when he was transferred to another facility. Upon entering, he showed officials a court ruling demonstrating that his dreadlocks, grown down to his knees over nearly a decade, were tied to his religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

The intake guard examined the copy of the order, then threw it in the trash, making it impossible for Landor to show the warden that his hair should not be cut. Prison staff later handcuffed Landor to a chair and shaved his dreadlocks. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy locks are a part of me and part of who I am. So when they cut off my hair, they cut off my crown,\u201d Landor explained in a statement to USA Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Landor sought to sue the officials responsible for violating his religious rights, citing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA). Lower courts denied him the ability to sue, and the Supreme Court upheld those decisions in a 6-3 ruling.<\/p>\n

was along partisan lines, with all six conservative justices agreeing with the majority opinion and three liberal justices dissenting. Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the majority ruling, finding that spending rules in the U.S. Constitution disallowed lawsuits like Landor\u2019s, based on RLUIPA, from seeking financial compensation. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the Spending Clause, Congress lacks regulatory authority to impose liability\u201d on those who violate RLUIPA,\u201d , adding that Landor\u2019s case cannot proceed against the state \u201cany more than a breach of contract action might proceed against a defendant who never formed a contract.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more Trump Threatens ABC News Over Coverage of Costly Reflecting Pool Project<\/a><\/p>\n

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson penned the dissent to the majority\u2019s ruling, stating that the conservative justices were adopting \u201cthe peculiar position that Congress is powerless to create, and a State is powerless to accept, the natural next step\u201d of a RLUIPA complaint \u2014 \u201ca damages remedy against officials who violate that directive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLandor had federal law on his side. And he did everything he could do in real time to ensure that prison officials knew that,\u201d .<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not I but the majority that jettisons \u2018a long line of this Court\u2019s precedents,’\u201d Jackson wrote, citing Gorsuch\u2019s ruling, adding that the majority opinion is an empty \u201cformalism\u201d that contains a \u201cparade of horribles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The consequences of this ruling are predictable, Jackson added, stating that people who are imprisoned like Landor will \u201cbe left remediless\u201d in similar situations in the future.<\/p>\n

Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser reacted to the ruling in a statement shared with Truthout<\/em>, saying:<\/p>\n

\n

Today\u2019s U.S. Supreme Court decision endangers the religious freedom of incarcerated people, like Damon Landor, who are particularly vulnerable to abuse and having unnecessary burdens placed on their religious exercise. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOnce again, we see a court that will bend over backward for the religious freedom of Christians, but allows the government to trample the religious freedom of non-Christians,\u201d Laser added. \u201cWe can only hope this faulty decision doesn\u2019t embolden more prison officials to ignore the religious-freedom rights of incarcerated people to observe their faith as long as they don\u2019t harm others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Union Activists Are Building Solidarity With Delaney Hall Hunger Strikers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, saying the ruling contained a \u201cparade of horribles\u201d that created bad precedent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, saying the ruling contained a \u201cparade of horribles\u201d that created bad precedent.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T21:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T21:08:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607\"},\"wordCount\":663,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607\",\"name\":\"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks - Smart Moving Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T21:08:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg\",\"width\":2300,\"height\":1533},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=607#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Smart Moving Home\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks - Smart Moving Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks - Smart Moving Home","og_description":"Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, saying the ruling contained a \u201cparade of horribles\u201d that created bad precedent.","og_url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607","og_site_name":"Smart Moving Home","article_published_time":"2026-06-23T21:08:00+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"headline":"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks","datePublished":"2026-06-23T21:08:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607"},"wordCount":663,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607","name":"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks - Smart Moving Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-23T21:08:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/39a00b0456b76647b25e7a1c6ad8ee97.jpg","width":2300,"height":1533},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=607#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian Man From Suing Prison Guards Who Shaved His Dreadlocks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/","name":"Smart Moving Home","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/smartmovinghome.com"],"url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}