Opinion ID: 2675408
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act

Text: Fields contends that the district court should have allowed him to amend his complaint to include a claim under the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act (ORFA), Okla. Stat. tit. 51, §§ 251–258 (2000). His argument on this point in his opening brief on appeal concludes by saying, “[F]or the reasons that Defendants violated Plaintiff’s free exercise rights under the First Amendment, see infra, Defendants similarly violated Plaintiff’s rights protected by ORFA.” Aplt. Br. at 58. He does not argue that he can prevail under ORFA if he loses his free-exercise claim. Because we have affirmed the district court’s denial of Fields’s free-exercise claim, we also affirm the denial of his motion to amend his complaint to add an ORFA claim. The ORFA claim was doomed to failure, so an amendment to add it would have been futile.