Supreme Court

Supreme Court Limits the Ability To Sue Prison Guards for Religious Liberty Violations

Understanding the stakes of Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections.

Damon Root | 6.23.2026 3:17 PM

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(The Supreme Court of the United States)

Another day, another unfortunate decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that shields rights-violating government agents from facing accountability.

No, I am not referring to a new case about qualified immunity, the judge-made doctrine that makes it hard to sue a bad cop for a constitutional violation.

And no, I am also not referring to the line of cases involving so-called Bivens immunity, which have made it even harder to sue an abusive federal officer for a constitutional violation.

I am referring here instead to the ability to sue a prison guard for a religious liberty violation under the terms of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Among other things, that federal law says that if a state prison system accepts federal funding, it must generally refrain from imposing "a........

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