You may be familiar with The CROWN Act, a law created in 2019 to “ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles” including braids, locs, twists, and knots. And now, the Supreme Court must decide whether prison officers were legally justified in cutting the dreadlocks of a devout Rastafarian— a move he says violated his religious rights.
Suggested Reading
We previously reported about “Landor v. Louisiana Department of Correction and Public Safety,” a lawsuit naming the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center Prison in the city of Avoyelles Parish. On Monday (Nov. 10), the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case and will determine whether Damon Landor can sue state prison officials for monetary damages after they allegedly forcibly shaved his hair against his faith, according to NBC News.
After two hours of arguments, the court’s three liberal justices reportedly appeared strongly on Landor’s side, according to Yahoo News. However, the case would still require at least two conservative justices to join them to form a majority ruling— a scenario that currently seems unlikely.
“Look, the facts of this case are egregious,” said Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a member of the court’s conservative wing. But, she said, “we can’t decide a case just based on these facts.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch, another conservative, reportedly suggested that under Landor’s theory, a cisgender woman trying out for a sports team on a college campus that receives federal funding could sue a coach personally for $1 million in damages for allowing a transgender woman on the team.
Landor had not cut his dreadlocks in nearly two decades when officers at Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Louisiana shaved off his dreadlocks in 2020. According to court filings, he even showed officers a copy of a prior court ruling that said cutting Rastafarians dreadlocks in custody could violate federal law. However, two guards allegedly threw the document away, handcuffed him, and allowed prison staff to cut his knee-length hair.
“In an instant, they stripped Landor of decades of consistent religious practice and a defining feature of his identity,” his lawyers said in written arguments this year. “That is shocking, offensive, and lawless.”
Landor, who began serving a five-month prison sentence in 2020 for drug possession, had previously taken a promise called the Nazarite vow to not cut his hair. He is now weighing his case on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA, which is a federal law designed to protect individuals from discrimination in landmarking laws.
However, Louisiana argues that the individual officials involved in shaving Landor’s dreadlocks are not a part of the federal law and therefore cannot be held personally liable.
The court is reportedly likely to hand out a decision in the case next year.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.