Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Tennessee Legislature Passes Healthcare Sharing Ministries Exemption

Yesterday the Tennessee legislature took the final procedural steps needed to send HB 1163, Healthcare Sharing Ministries Freedom to Share Act (full text) to the Governor for his signature. It exempts from state insurance regulation tax-exempt plans under which members who share a common religious or ethical belief provide for the medical or financial needs of other members through their financial contributions.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Tennessee Governor Signs Law Allowing Potential Officiants to Refuse to Solemnize a Marriage

Yesterday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law HB 878 (full text) which adds to the Tennessee Code section which lists who may solemnize marriages (clergy as well as various current and former public officials) language that provides:

 A person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage.

As originally introduced, the bill would have allowed refusals only by those who had objections based on conscience or religious belief.  CNN reporting on the bill notes that LGBTQ advocates criticized the bill for allowing public officials to discriminate based on their personal beliefs.

Friday, January 26, 2024

County Revises Policy on Religious Head Coverings in Booking Photos in Settlement of Suit by Muslim Woman

In a Settlement Agreement (full text) in Johnston v. Rutherford County, Tennessee, (MD TN, 1/18/2024), the county has agreed to pay $100,000 in damages to a Muslim woman who authorities required to remove her hijab for a booking photo. Sophia Johnston was stopped by police for having a taillight out and was arrested when it turned out she had a 6-year-old outstanding warrant for failing to appear on charges of driving with a suspended license. (Background.) In the Settlement Agreement, the county also agreed to delete from its records photos and video of Johnston without her hijab. Johnston will have a booking photo wearing her hijab retaken. Under the Agreement, the county has also adopted a new policy on Religious Accommodations for Head Coverings During Booking Process (full text) and has updated its Detention Center Protocols (full text) to allow booking photos to be taken with religious head coverings so long as the head covering is first removed for a search.  WZTV News reports on the settlement.

Monday, January 08, 2024

Court Limits Discussion of Religion in Trial for Blocking Abortion Clinic Entrance

In United States v. Gallagher, (MD TN, Jan. 5, 2024), a Tennessee federal district court ruled on the extent to which defendants can refer to their religious activities or beliefs and to the First Amendment in their upcoming criminal trial for violation of the Free Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Defendants are charged criminally with barricading the entrance to a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee abortion clinic in a so-called "rescue" operation. The court said in part:

It does not appear to be disputed that these defendants’ actions were motivated, at least in part, by their religious objections to the intentional termination of pregnancies. The Government argues, however, that evidence of those motivations would be “totally extraneous” to the “nature of the” charged offenses and should, therefore, be excluded.... The Government’s argument, however, is in significant tension with the FACE Act itself, which affirmatively places the defendants’ states of mind at issue by criminalizing only “intentional” acts taken “because [the victim] is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from, obtaining or providing reproductive health services.” 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(1). The defendants’ subjective motivations are, therefore, an unavoidable aspect of this case, and it is not clear to the court that those motivations can be accurately represented without at least some incidental reference to the details of their beliefs—which happen, in this instance, to be based in religion....

The court has already ruled that, as a matter of well-settled law, religious motivations are not a defense to a violation of either the FACE Act or the conspiracy statute.... The court, however, will not go so far as to wholly forbid the discussion of the defendants’ religious beliefs for the limited purpose of establishing or refuting intent or purpose.... 

... The defendants cannot turn an ounce of relevance into a gallon of irrelevant political messaging. The court, however, will not bar discussion of the defendants’ views altogether.

... When the defendants prayed or discussed their religious views, those specific actions were protected by the First Amendment. But if, in the next breath, they turned to discussing a plan to unlawfully obstruct the entrance of a clinic, then that conspiracy was just as illegal as it would have been if it had been the sole topic of conversation. Similarly, if they engaged in activities that would, in isolation, be protected by the First Amendment, but they did so while also violating the FACE Act through physical obstruction or intimidation, then the non-criminal components of their actions are no shield against prosecution for the criminal ones. Any argument to the contrary would be improper and will be barred.

The court also ruled that defendants may not present evidence or arguments at trial on various other matters including jury nullification, selective prosecution, potential sentences and good character. (See prior related posting.)

Friday, November 03, 2023

Supreme Court Review Sought in Tennessee's Ban on Medical Treatment of Minors for Gender Dysphoria

 A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this week in L.W. v. Skrmetti, (Sup. Ct., filed 11/1/2023). In the case, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision, reversed a preliminary injunction issued by a district court in a challenge to Tennessee's ban on chemical, hormonal or surgical treatment of minors for gender dysphoria. The majority rejected due process and equal protection challenges to the state law. (See prior posting.) ACLU issued a press release  announcing its filing of the petition seeking review of the 6th Circuit's decision.

Friday, October 27, 2023

Tennessee Sues to Restore Title X Grant Without Making Abortion Referrals

Tennessee's Attorney General this week filed suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeking to restore Tennessee's $7 million annual Title X family planning grant which had been cancelled because of the state's abortion referral policy.  The complaint (full text) in State of Tennessee v. Becerra, (ED TN, filed 10/24/2023), challenges the HHS rule that requires Title X grantees to furnish information and nondirective counseling on abortion if pregnant clients request it.  Tennessee was only willing to make referrals and provide counseling as to procedures that are legal in Tennessee,  HHS takes the position that where, as in Tennessee, abortion is outlawed, out-of-state referrals would be required. the suit contends that the HHS rule violates various provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. It asks the court, among other things, to:

Enjoin Defendants from withholding Title X funds from Tennessee for refusing to offer counseling and referrals (including out-of-state) for abortions that are otherwise illegal under Tennessee law.

Catholic World Report reports on the lawsuit.

Tuesday, October 03, 2023

6th Circuit Upholds TN and KY Laws Barring Gender Transition Treatment For Minors

 In L.W. v. Skrmetti, (6th Cir., Sept. 28, 2023), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, reversed preliminary injunctions issued by district courts in challenges to statutes in Tennessee and Kentucky prohibiting chemical, hormonal or surgical treatment of minors for gender dysphoria. The majority rejected due process and equal protection challenges to the state laws, saying in part:

No one in these consolidated cases debates the existence of gender dysphoria or the distress caused by it. And no one doubts the value of providing psychological and related care to children facing it. The question is whether certain additional treatments—puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgeries—should be added to the mix of treatments available to those age 17 and under. As to that, we return to where we started. This is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments. That is precisely the kind of situation in which life-tenured judges construing a difficult-to-amend Constitution should be humble and careful about announcing new substantive due process or equal protection rights that limit accountable elected officials from sorting out these medical, social, and policy challenges.

Judge White dissented, saying in part:

The statutes we consider today discriminate based on sex and gender conformity and intrude on the well-established province of parents to make medical decisions for their minor children. Despite these violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, the majority concludes that the statutes are likely constitutional and reverses district court orders enjoining the statutes. I respectfully dissent.

Sunday, July 09, 2023

6th Circuit Stays Injunction Against Tennessee's Ban on Treatment of Transgender Youth

In L.W. v. Skrmetti, (6th Cir., July 8, 2023), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision stayed a district court's preliminary injunction against Tennessee's ban on providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors suffering from gender dysphoria. Chief Judge Sutton's majority opinion first held that the district court had abused its power by issuing a state-wide injunction in the case. It went on to hold that plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail on their due process or equal protection challenges, saying in part:

Life-tenured federal judges should be wary of removing a vexing and novel topic of medical debate from the ebbs and flows of democracy by construing a largely unamendable federal constitution to occupy the field....

Parents, it is true, have a substantive due process right “to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children.”.... But the Supreme Court cases recognizing this right confine it to narrow fields, such as education ... and visitation rights.... No Supreme Court case extends it to a general right to receive new medical or experimental drug treatments.....

Gender-affirming procedures often employ FDA-approved drugs for non-approved, “off label” uses. Tennessee decided that such off-label use in this area presents unacceptable dangers.... Many medical professionals and many medical organizations may disagree. But the Constitution does not require Tennessee to view these treatments the same way as the majority of experts or to allow drugs for all uses simply because the FDA has approved them for some....

Equal protection.... The Act bans gender-affirming care for minors of both sexes. The ban thus applies to all minors, regardless of their biological birth with male or female sex organs. That prohibition does not prefer one sex to the detriment of the other.....

The plaintiffs separately claim that the Act amounts to transgender-based discrimination, violating the rights of a quasi-suspect class. But neither the Supreme Court nor this court has recognized transgender status as a quasi-suspect class. Until that changes, rational basis review applies to transgender-based classifications....

These initial views, we must acknowledge, are just that: initial. We may be wrong. It may be that the one week we have had to resolve this motion does not suffice to see our own mistakes. In an effort to mitigate any potential harm from that possibility, we will expedite the appeal of the preliminary injunction....

Judge White dissented in part, agreeing that the injunction was too broad, but concluding that plaintiffs would likely succeed on their Equal Protection challenge because the law discriminates on the basis of sex.

Politico reports on the decision.

Wednesday, July 05, 2023

Court Says Dobbs Decision Does Not Undercut Freedom of Access To Clinic Entrances Act

In United States v. Gallagher, (MD TN, July 3, 2023), a Tennessee federal district court became the first court to rule on whether the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision affects the constitutionality of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances ("FACE") Act.  In the case, eleven co-defendants sought dismissal of their indictments for violating FACE. They first argued that since Dobbs held abortion is not entitled to heightened protection under the 14th Amendment, Congress' reliance in enacting the law on its 14th Amendment Section 5 enforcement powers is undercut. The court responded in part:

While the question of how section 5 applies to the FACE Act may be of some abstract or academic interest, however, it is of limited practical importance, given that section 5 is only one of two powers on which Congress relied in enacting the FACE Act, the other of which—the power to regulate interstate commerce—was not at issue in Dobbs.

Later in its opinion, the court rejected defendants' argument that Dobbs effectively created a carveout of abortion services from commerce clause coverage. It also rejected defendants' argument that they could not be prosecuted under 18 USC §241 for conspiring to prevent the exercise of a federal right. The court said "§ 241 does not require that the right in question be constitutional, only that it be federal. FACE is, of course, a federal statute...."

The court also rejected defendants' argument that the government is engaged in impermissible selective enforcement because it has not brought enough prosecutions under the FACE Act against individuals who have interfered in the operation of anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers.”

It went on to reject defendants' free speech arguments, saying in part:

Nor is the FACE Act being applied in an unconstitutional manner to these particular defendants based on their viewpoints or participation in First Amendment-protected activities, as would be required for a so-called “vindictive prosecution” defense. “...

Because there is no actual evidence of any such improper motive, the defendants engage in a sleight of hand, whereby they have treated any statement by the Department of Justice indicating a desire to safeguard access to abortion as evidence of a desire to punish these defendants for Dobbs. The defendants, though, are not the center of the moral or political universe. A desire to safeguard access to abortion is a desire to safeguard access to abortion—not an affront directed at them. More importantly, safeguarding access to abortion is, particularly under Dobbs, an entirely appropriate thing for legislatures and executives to do, if that is the course they choose. Indeed, it is harder to imagine a more fulsome endorsement of the elected branches’ power to set abortion policy than Dobbs...

Moving to defendants' Free Exercise/ RFRA claims, the court said in part:

The boundaries of the Free Exercise Clause are a topic of much disagreement.... The defendants’ argument, however, goes to something much more fundamental. Although the defendants go to great lengths to make this issue more complicated than it is, they ultimately ask a straightforward question: Does the Free Exercise Clause grant individuals who are acting out of religious motivations freedom to commit actions that otherwise would be crimes against the person or property of others through physical invasion, intimidation, or threat? The answer is similarly straightforward: No, it does not....

The defendants argued that RFRA requires that the state have a compelling interest to substantially burden religious exercise, and that after Dobbs there cannot be a compelling interest in protecting access to abortion. The court responded in part:

... [T]he Supreme Court has never held that a “compelling interest” depends upon something being considered a fundamental right. They are different constitutional concepts, performing different jurisprudential functions.

Friday, June 30, 2023

Preliminary Injunction Issued Against Tennessee's Ban on Gender-Affirming Treatment for Minors

In L.W. v. Skrmetti,(MD TN, June 28, 2023), a Tennessee federal district court issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of SB1 insofar as it bans health care personnel from providing or offering minors puberty blockers or hormone treatments for gender dysphoria. (Plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the law's ban on gender-affirming surgery.) The court concluded that plaintiffs demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on their due process claim, saying in part:

The Court ... agrees with Plaintiffs that under binding Sixth Circuit precedent, parents have a fundamental right to direct the medical care of their children, which naturally includes the right of parents to request certain medical treatments on behalf of their children....

It similarly found that plaintiffs had demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on their equal protection claim, saying in part:

Defendants’ argument that SB1 does not discriminate based on transgender status is unpersuasive....

The Court is satisfied that current precedent supports the finding that transgender individuals constitute a quasi-suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause....

[T]he Court finds that SB1 discriminates on the basis of sex, which in turn provides an alternative basis for the application of intermediate scrutiny.

ACLU issued a press release announcing the decision. [Posting updated to clarify scope of holding.]

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Deputy Has Qualified Immunity In Suit Claiming His Failure to Intervene in Establishment Clause Violation

 In White v. Goforth, (6th Cir., May 18, 2023), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Sheriff's Deputy Jacob Goforth had qualified immunity in a suit against him for failing to intervene in conduct by Daniel Wilkey, an on-duty officer who is also a preacher. Wilkey called Goforth asking him to witness a baptism at a nearby lake.  The court explained:

Unbeknownst to Goforth, Wilkey had stopped Shandle Riley earlier that evening and found her in possession of marijuana. Wilkey told Riley that if she agreed to let him baptize her, he would issue her a citation and not take her to jail. She agreed and followed Wilkey in her car to a nearby lake. When Goforth arrived, he saw what appeared to be a consensual, if improper, situation.... Critically, however, Goforth never learned of Wilkey’s improper quid pro quo.....

Reversing the Tennessee district court's denial of qualified immunity, the appeals court said in part:

Riley asserts that Wilkey’s coerced baptism of her violated the Establishment Clause. That may well be so. Coercion “was among the foremost hallmarks of religious establishments the framers sought to prohibit when they adopted the First Amendment.”... Threatening jail time for refusing Christian baptism seems an easy fit for this category. But even if Wilkey violated Riley’s constitutional rights, Wilkey is not before us; only Goforth is. There is nothing in the record indicating that Goforth knew of Wilkey’s quid pro quo....

The district court thought that, even absent coercion, it was clearly established that an officer in Goforth’s position would be “liable for failing to intervene if a reasonable observer” would have perceived a governmental endorsement of religion, as defined by the Lemon test and its progeny....We cannot agree. First, Kennedy clarified that the Supreme Court had “long ago abandoned Lemon and its endorsement test offshoot.” ... If that is so, then Goforth could not have had a clearly established duty to stop Wilkey from violating it....

Moreover, we can find no case that had ever found an officer liable where his fault was not his own endorsement of religion, but his failure to intervene in someone else’s.

Friday, April 21, 2023

Suit Challenges Tennessee's Ban On Gender Transition Treatment For Minors

Suit was filed yesterday in a Tennessee federal district court challenging Tennessee's recently enacted law banning medical or surgical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors. The complaint (full text) in L.W. v. Skrmetti, (MD TN, filed 4/20/2023), alleges that the ban violates plaintiffs' Equal Protection rights and their rights to parental autonomy, as well as violating provisions of the Affordable Care Act. ACLU issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Tuesday, November 08, 2022

Tennessee AG: Abortion Ban Does Not Bar Disposal of Excess Embryos Created During IVF Process

Tennessee's Attorney General last month issued Opinion No. 22-12 (Oct. 20, 2022) clarifying that the abortion ban in Tennessee's Human Life Protection Act does not apply to the disposal of embryos which have not been transferred to a woman's uterus. Thus the law would not bar disposal of excess embryos created during the in vitro fertilization procedure. Tennessee Lookout reports on the AG's opinion. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Monday, October 31, 2022

National Motto in Public Schools Again Upheld

 In JLF v. Tennessee State Board of Education, (MD TN, Oct. 27, 2022), plaintiff asked a Tennessee federal district court to reconsider its prior holding that display of the national motto "In God We Trust" in a public charter school lobby did not violate the Establishment Clause. Plaintiff argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District which rejected the Lemon test and adopted the Historical Practice test for Establishment Clause cases constitutes an intervening change in controlling law. However, the court denied plaintiff's motion to reconsider, saying in part:

Kennedy has no effect on the court’s previous ruling, because the court did not rely on Lemon to reject the plaintiff’s Establishment Clause claim and, instead, considered the national motto in its historical context to conclude that its posting in public schools does not violate the Establishment Clause.

Thursday, July 07, 2022

Jewish Couple Lacks Standing To Challenge Tennessee Law Allowing Christian Foster Care Agency To Deny Services

In Rutan-Ram v. Tennessee Department of Children's Services, (TN Chanc., June 27, 2022), a Tennessee state 3-judge panel sitting under a special provision of Tennessee law that applies to constitutional challenges, held 2-1 that a Jewish couple who were denied foster-parent training by a state-funded Christian child placement agency lack standing to challenge a Tennessee law permitting faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to refuse to provide services that violate their religious convictions. The standing decision was based on the fact that the state Department of Children's Services ultimately provided training directly to the couple, rather than the couple obtaining it through a private agency. (See prior related posting.) Americans United issued a press release on the case.

Wednesday, July 06, 2022

Break-Away Faction In Church of God Not Entitled To Property Ownership

In Blue v. Church of God Sanctified, Inc., (TN App., June 27, 2022), a Tennessee state appellate court held that in a property dispute between a break-away faction of a local Church of God and the National Body (as well as a faction loyal to the National Body, labeled the Mother Church), the National Body and its local adherents own church property.  The court said in part:

 We agree with the trial court’s determination that as a matter of ecclesiastical government, the procedure for separation of an affiliated member church from a hierarchical church organization is an issue over which civil courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction.... The trial court did not err in declining to exercise subject matter jurisdiction over Local Church’s initial request for a judgment declaring it to be a separate entity from the National Body....

The court went on to apply the "hybrid neutral principles" approach to affirm the trial court's conclusion that the local church property belongs to the National Body. It described the "hybrid neutral principles" approach:

 “[u]nder this approach, courts defer to and enforce trust language contained in the constitutions and governing documents of hierarchical religious organizations, even if this language of trust is not included in a civil legal document and does not satisfy the formalities that the civil law normally requires to create a trust.”

The court concluded:

 Although no ecclesiastical judgment is in the record, we conclude that the evidence presented at the summary judgment stage demonstrates that the National Body considered Mother Church to be the congregation entitled to possession and use of the Property.... Moreover, as the trial court found, Local Church had already sought disaffiliation from the National Body and had “appointed [its] own pastor, deacons, and trustees outside of the requirements of the [Manual].” We therefore defer to the National Body’s determination, acting through Bishop Hill, that Mother Church is the congregation entitled to possession and use of the Property and its associated personalty.

Sunday, May 29, 2022

6th Circuit: Suit Over Marriages By Clergy Ordained Online Can Move Ahead In Part

In Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse v. Nabors, (6th Cir., May 27, 2022), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed claims against a portion of the original defendants to move ahead in the Universal Life Church's challenge to a Tennessee law that prohibits persons receiving online ordination from solemnizing marriages.  Various defendants asserted standing and sovereign immunity defenses. Summarizing its holding, the court said in part:

No plaintiff has standing to seek relief against Governor Lee, Attorney General Slatery, District Attorney General Helper, or County Clerks Crowell, Anderson, and Knowles.... As a result, those portions of the district court’s preliminary injunction that purport to bind [them] ... are VACATED. By contrast, however, we AFFIRM the district court’s determination that plaintiffs have standing to sue District Attorneys General Dunaway, Pinkston, and Jones, along with County Clerk Nabors. We also AFFIRM the district court’s denial of these officials’ sovereign immunity at the motion-to-dismiss stage, and so we do not disturb those portions of the preliminary injunction binding [them].... Last, we REMAND what remains of this suit to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Friday, May 20, 2022

Posting Of National Motto In School Does Not Violate Establishment Clause

In JLF v. Tennessee State Board of Education, (MD TN, May 18, 2022), a Tennessee federal district court upheld Tennessee's statute that requires all public schools to post the national motto "In God We Trust" in a prominent location. The law was challenged under the Establishment Clause by the father of a kindergartener on behalf of his daughter whose school has posted the motto as part of a display in the entryway to the school.  The court said in part:

The court finds ... in light of the substantial body of law ... repeatedly concluding in a variety of contexts that the national motto has a secular purpose and that its display does not violate the Establishment Clause, that the Lemon test is of limited utility in this context.... The fact that the display is in a public school does not require enhanced scrutiny.... [T]he posting of the national motto in schools “involves no coercion,” “does not purport to compel belief or acquiescence,” “does not command participation in any form of religious exercise,” “does not assert a preference for one religious denomination or sect over others, and it does not involve the state in the governance of any church.”...

Friday, April 29, 2022

More Context Needed In Student's Suit Over Right To Wear Shirt With Anti-Gay Bible Verse

In B.A.P. v. Overton County Board of Education, (MD TN, April 27, 2022), a Tennessee federal district court refused to dismiss a suit challenging on free exercise and free speech grounds a school's disciplining of a student who refused to take off a shirt that read: "homosexuality is a sin - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10." The court said in part:

 "[T]o justify prohibition of a particular expression of opinion" under Tinker, a school must show that it acted out of '"more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint,' but rather, 'that the school authorities had reason to anticipate that the [student’s expression] would substantially interfere with the work of the school or would impinge upon the rights of other students.'"...

Here, an adequate analysis of B.A.P.’s First Amendment claims ... requires a more developed record than is available on a motion to dismiss. ....

Plaintiffs allege that Henson removed B.A.P. from class due to the message on her shirt, Melton did not allow her to return to class because of this message, and both Melton and Henson told B.A.P. she could not wear the shirt to school going forward. The Amended Complaint does not, however, supply specific facts and context about Livingston Academy and the surrounding community at the time Melton and Henson took these actions. Without this context, the Court cannot determine whether Melton and Henson reasonably forecasted that the message on B.A.P.’s shirt would cause substantial disruption or interference with the rights of other students. Accordingly, B.A.P.’s First Amendment claims against Melton and Henson will not be dismissed for failure to state a claim.

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Court Enjoins Autopsy In Suit By Inmate Facing Execution

In Smith v. Li, (MD TN, April 20, 2022), a Tennessee federal district court, in a RLUIPA suit by an inmate about to be executed, enjoined the state's medical examiner from performing an autopsy after the execution, collecting fluids postmortem, or performing any other procedure violating plaintiff's the body's physical integrity after death. The court said in part:

It may be that the medical community does not consider the collection of fluid samples to constitute an “autopsy.” That fact, though, has no bearing on either the sincerity or the content of Smith’s religious beliefs, which do not depend on any such distinction. It is not the place of Dr. Li, the government, or the court to try to convince Smith that he should not consider the postmortem collection of his bodily fluids to be an impermissible intrusion on his religiously mandated bodily integrity. If Smith does sincerely believe that—and the court finds that he does— then Dr. Li’s stated intention to violate his beliefs implicates RLUIPA, whether Dr. Li finds Smith’s theological explanation persuasive or not....

Under these circumstances, where the decision whether to conduct an autopsy is left to the discretion of the county medical examiner and, alternatively, to that of the state chief medical examiner or the district attorney general, it is difficult to see how the government could show that conducting an autopsy is necessary to fulfill a compelling government interest. If the interest were truly compelling, the statute presumably would mandate it.