The Supreme Court said on June 23 that a Rastafarian could not sue prison officials in their individual capacities after the officials shaved his dreadlocks.
In a 6–3 decision, the justices said that the officials did not knowingly consent to liability under a federal law protecting prisoners’ religious liberty. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson penned a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion in the case, known as Landor v. Louisiana. He said that the law in question—the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act—was unique because it was passed under the Constitution’s spending clause….