In Searles v. Bruce, (10th Cir., Feb. 15, 2007), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal for lack of jurisdiction under the "collateral order" doctrine that allows an interlocutory appeal of a denial of qualified immunity only on questions of law. Here a Jewish prisoner claimed prison officials denied him use of tefillin and denied him a meaningful religious observance of the Jewish festival of Sukkot.
In Henderson v. Frank, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11064 (WD WI, Feb. 15, 2007), a Wisconsin the court federal district court rejected an Establishment Clause claim brought by a Taoist prisoner. held that a policy that creates seven "umbrella religions" under which all other religions fall, is merely a system to manage the many faith traditions and does not give any particular benefit to some religions that is denied to others. It also held that the prison's refusal to purchase Taosit religious texts for the prisoner failed to raise a Free Exercise claim.
