9th Circuit En Banc Finds Court Holding Facility Is Covered By RLUIPA

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday in an en banc decision in Khatib v. County of Orange, (9th Cir., March 15, 2011), concluded that the holding facility at the Santa Ana (CA) courthouse is a "pretrial detention facility" that is covered by RLUIPA. The issue arose in the context of a lawsuit by a Muslim woman who was held in the facility for a number of hours after the court revoked her probation. Officers there insisted that she remove her headscarf even though this was a violation of her religious beliefs.  A 3-judge panel in the case had held, 2-1, that the holding cell was not covered by RLUIPA. The 11-judge en banc panel disagreed unanimously. Neither of the two judges in the majority on the 3-judge panel were among the eleven that heard the case en banc. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.