Beards Behind Bars

My choice of topic for today’s post may or may not have been influenced by the fact that I’m growing a beard. Reviews are mixed, ranging from nonspecific acknowledgment (“You have a beard!”) to good-natured derision (“Did you lose a bet?”). Jeff says I’m a pair of skinny jeans away from becoming a hipster. Kidding aside, today’s post is about the serious subject of whether prison officials must permit an inmate to grow a beard in accordance with his sincere religious beliefs. The Supreme Court held this week in Holt v. Hobbs that they must. In Holt, an Arkansas inmate challenged that state’s Department of Correction grooming policy banning most facial hair. The inmate, a devout Muslim, wished to grow a ½-inch beard in accordance with his religious faith. Prison officials denied his request. The only exception to the policy was a medical exemption for inmates with dermatological problems, who were allowed to grow a ¼-inch beard. Holt challenged the grooming policy under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq. RLUIPA “prohibits a state or local government from taking any action that substantially burdens the religious exercise of an institutionalized person unless the government demonstrates that the action constitutes the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling government interest.” Slip op. at 1. The law thus applies a statutory form of strict scrutiny to governmental limits on inmates’ religious exercise. After losses in federal district court and the Court of Appeals for the Eighth [...]