Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Prisoner's "Religious Name" Recognized Only Prospectively

In United States v. Baker, yesterday the 11 Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner who has changed his name to adopt a "religious name" may have that name added, prospectively, to the name under which he was committed to prison. However, he has no Free Exercise right to have his commitment order, issued in 1993, changed to reflect his later legal name change.