RLUIPA victory

[Alan Brownstein]

I'm not sure if this is the first legal victory for RLUIPA, but yesterday
District Court Judge Lawrence Karleton denied the State of California's
motion to dismiss the RLUIPA claims of Muslim prisoners who are suing the
Department of Corrections. The State threw in a laundry list of every
conceivable constitutional challenge to the prisoner provisions of RLUIPA
(and several inconceivable challenges). Karleton rejected them all.

The Muslims are challenging, among other things, the Department's grooming
standards which prohibits them from having even one half inch beards.

The lawsuit has been handled by the UC Davis Civil Rights Clinic. Sue
Christian, the supervising attorney, and the students working on the case
did a great job if I do say so myself.

I haven't seen Karleton's order yet. I'll provide more details when I do.

Alan Brownstein
UC Davis