Overview
- The Court is hearing oral arguments Monday in Damon Landor’s appeal over his forced head shaving at Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in 2020.
- The case turns on whether RLUIPA permits monetary damages against individual state or prison officials for violating religious exercise.
- Lower courts, including the 5th Circuit in 2023, dismissed his suit while condemning the guards’ treatment as unacceptable.
- Louisiana says the incident offended principles of religious freedom and reports revising grooming rules, yet it maintains damages are unavailable under the statute.
- Landor points to the Supreme Court’s 2020 RFRA damages ruling for support, the Trump administration backs his position, and the state cites Spending Clause limits and widespread appellate rulings against individual liability.