Fifth Circuit Decides Indian Prisoner Religious Freedom Case

Here is the opinion in Davis v. Davis.

An excerpt:

Prisoner Plaintiffs Teddy Norris Davis and Robbie Dow Goodman appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of prison officials within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (“TDCJ”). The district court granted summary judgment in Defendants’ favor on Plaintiffs’ First Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims challenging TDCJ policies on the wearing of medicine bags, the use of pipes during Native American religious pipe ceremonies, and grooming, based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc, et seq. We AFFIRM in part as to the First Amendment claim and RLUIPA claims concerning medicine bags and pipe ceremonies, and we VACATE and REMAND in part for further findings as to Plaintiffs’ grooming-policy RLUIPA claim.