9th Circuit Defines "Religious Exercise" In RLUIPA

On Tuesday, in Greene v. Solano County Jail, (9th Cir., Jan. 22, 2008), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided an important interpretive question under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. In the case, a former maximum security prisoner challenged a California jail's policy of prohibiting maximum security prisoners from participating in group religious worship. RLUIPA prohibits imposing a substantial burden on a prisoner's "religious exercise", absent a compelling interest and narrowly tailored means. The Court of Appeals held that "religious exercise" means a particular practice within a religion-- here attending group services-- and not merely the general practice of one's religion. So a substantial burden on that practice is enough to create a RLUIPA problem. The court remanded the case for the trial court to determine whether the total ban on group religious worship is the least restrictive means of maintaining jail security. Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports on the decision.