United States Fifth Circuit

In a prisoner suit alleging excessive interference with a prisoner's exercise of religion, summary judgment for defendants is: 1) reversed in part and remanded where the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act demands less intrusion than the state exercised; and 2) affirmed in part for claims under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Eighth Amendment, and the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as for all claims for damages under the First Amendment and RLUIPA. Certain claims for injunctive and declaratory relief based on the prison's cell-restriction policy are dismissed as moot.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/17/2009
• Published 02/18/2009

Judges

• WIENER, Circuit Judge:, Before WIENER, GARZA, and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John Kuchera (argued), Waco, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Marjolyn Carol Gardner, Asst. Atty. Gen., Law Enforcement Defense Div., David Eugene Brice (argued), Austin, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.