Smith v. Ward (U.S.)
Lester Smith’s Muslim faith requires him to grow an untrimmed beard. Although many prison systems allow accommodations for inmates to grow full beards, the Georgia Department of Corrections has denied Smith’s request and enforced its prohibition on beards longer than half an inch. The trial court found that the prison could not justify its prohibition under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, yet the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that Georgia may nonetheless enforce the half-inch limitation against Smith.
Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Religious Freedom Institute in support of Smith’s petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief argues that the Eleventh Circuit’s decision defies RLUIPA’s text, which provides relief where, like here, the government has imposed an unlawful burden on religious exercise. Even if Smith could be denied the right to grow a full beard, there is no doubt he is at least entitled to a lesser remedy because the government offered no rationale to justify its prohibition on three-inch beards. The Eleventh Circuit’s decision, the brief explains, distorts federal law and leads to absurd and inequitable results for religious exercise claims.
The Supreme Court declined to take up the case.
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- "ND Law's Religious Liberty Clinic files amicus brief with Religious Freedom Institute to protect the rights of prisoners" (June 7, 2022)
Court Decisions
Appellate Court (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit)
- Opinion (Sept. 22, 2021)
Trial Court (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia)
- Bench Opinion (Aug. 7, 2019)