District Court Upholds RLUIPA Against Various Constitutional Challenges

In Gooden v. Crain, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22744 (ED Tex., Oct. 5, 2005), a Texas federal district court upheld the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act against a number of constitutional challenges. Pointing to decisions of various Courts of Appeal, the court rejected commerce clause, spending clause and Tenth Amendment challenges to the statute.