The Supreme Court ruled against a rastafarian man whose dreadlocks were forcibly removed in a Louisiana prison Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
June 23 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a devout Rastafarian man who sued prison officials after they held him down and cut off his dreadlocks.
The precedent could make it more difficult for prisoners of other religions to defend their religious rights.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for the 6-3 decision. It was a rare decision against religious liberty for the conservative majority. The three who dissented were liberal justices, with Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson writing the dissent.
"Mr. Landor would have us hold, for the first time, that so long as a penny of federal spending makes its way to an individual, however indirectly, Congress can regulate his conduct directly based on the fiction that he has consented to regulation," Gorsuch wrote. "None of that is consistent with our precedents."
