On Remand from Supreme Court, 6th Circuit Upholds RLUIPAToday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that RLUIPA’s institutionalized persons provision is constitutional under the Spending Clause and does not violate the Tenth Amendment. The Court reached this decision on remand in Cutter v. Wilkinson, a case it originally decided in 2003 when it struck down RLUIPA on Establishment Clause grounds. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that RLUIPA does not violate the Establishment Clause, and remanded the case for further action.
Cutter and its two companion cases involve prison inmates with unconventional religious beliefs who claim they have been denied access to religious literature and worship services in violation of RLUIPA. “In sum,” the Court wrote, “we are satisfied that RLUIPA fits comfortably within each of the limitations set forth by the Supreme Court in [South Dakota v. Dole]. We therefore hold that the Act is a permissible exercise of Congress’s Spending Clause powers.” The Court followed the Seventh and Ninth Circuits, which have used similar reasoning to reject Spending Clause challenges to RLUIPA. Click here for the full opinion. Relevant Cases
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