The U.S. Supreme Court made a significant ruling on Tuesday, deciding that individual state employees cannot be held personally liable for damages under federal statutes tied to government funding programs unless those individuals explicitly consented to the lawsuits.

Case Background

The case involved Damon Landor, a Rastafarian man who spent time in Louisiana prison custody in 2020. Landor’s religious beliefs require him to leave his hair uncut. When he was transferred to a new facility, he provided the guards with a copy of a federal court precedent showing that prisons are generally barred from cutting a Rastafarian inmate’s hair.

However, the intake officers threw Landor’s legal paperwork into the trash, handcuffed him to a chair, and forcibly shaved his head. After his release, Landor filed a lawsuit seeking financial damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, commonly known as RLUIPA.

Supreme Court Decision

Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch explained that RLUIPA was enacted under Congress’s constitutional Spending Clause authority. This power allows the federal government to attach strings to federal money given to states, but Gorsuch noted it does not give Congress the direct power to regulate individual citizens who are not parties to that financial agreement.

The majority opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson authored a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.