Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Lester J. Smith v. Timothy C. Ward, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Corrections
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 19-13520 · judgment September 22, 2021
Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and an Eleventh Circuit decision below, and down for a state or local-government respondent.
Questions presented
In Knight v. Thompson, the Eleventh Circuit concluded—on remand following Holt v. Hobbs, 574 U.S. 352 (2015)—that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act allows denial of religious accommodations widely available in other jurisdictions whenever the prison makes a “calculated decision not to absorb [] added risks.” 797 F.3d 934, 937 (11th Cir. 2015). Here, it extended that logic to reject a beard-length accommodation available to religious adherents in at least thirty-nine other prison systems. It excused Georgia from any obligation to address the demonstrated safety of such accommodations in dozens of other states, instead relying only on the speculation of Georgia prison officials who admitted that they had not even attempted to determine how other states accommodate inmates with beards. The questions presented are:
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Whether the Eleventh Circuit erred in applying RLUIPA when it held that Georgia need not grant a religious accommodation offered in 39 other prison systems.
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Whether RLUIPA allows religious accommodations to be denied based on any plausible risk to penological interests, if the government merely asserts that it chooses to take no risks.
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Whether RLUIPA prohibits courts from granting any religious accommodation short of the full accommodation sought by a plaintiff prisoner.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
J. Scott Ballenger
Appellate Litigation Clinic
For respondent
Stephen John Petrany
Georgia Department of Law
Proceedings
- Oct 03 2022Petition DENIED.
- Jul 20 2022DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2022.
- Jul 19 2022Reply of petitioner Lester J. Smith filed. (Distributed)
- Jul 05 2022Brief of respondent Timothy C. Ward, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Corrections in opposition filed.
- Jun 06 2022Brief amici curiae of Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, et al. filed.
- Jun 06 2022Brief amicus curiae of Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America filed.
- Jun 06 2022Brief amicus curiae of Sikh Coalition filed.
- Jun 06 2022Brief amici curiae of Former Prison Officials filed.
- Jun 06 2022Brief amici curiae of Kristen Bell, J.D., Ph.D., et al. filed.
- Jun 06 2022Brief amicus curiae of Religious Freedom Institute filed.
- Jun 06 2022Brief amici curiae of Prison Safety and Religion Scholars filed.
- Jun 03 2022Brief amici curiae of Christian Legal Society and National Association of Evangelicals filed.
- May 18 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 5, 2022.
- May 17 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 6, 2022 to July 5, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
- Apr 28 2022Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 6, 2022)
- Mar 16 2022Application (21A515) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until April 28, 2022.
- Mar 08 2022Application (21A515) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from March 29, 2022 to May 28, 2022, submitted to Justice Thomas.