Opinion ID: 780325
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Independent Constitutional Proscriptions

Text: 14 The inquiry does not end with the conclusion that RLUIPA is a valid exercise of Congress's Spending Clause authority. 2 Other constitutional provisions may provide independent bases for striking RLUIPA. Dole, 483 U.S. at 208, 107 S.Ct. 2793.
15 The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits any government from enacting a law that would respect the establishment of religion. While this clause forbids Congress from advancing religion, the Supreme Court has interpreted it to allow, and sometimes to require, the accommodation of religious practices: This Court has long recognized that the government may (and sometimes must) accommodate religious practices and that it may do so without violating the Establishment Clause. Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla., 480 U.S. 136, 144-45, 107 S.Ct. 1046, 94 L.Ed.2d 190 (1987). Moreover, in commanding neutrality the Religious Clauses do not require the government to be oblivious to impositions that legitimate exercises of state power may place on religious belief and practice. Bd. of Educ. of Kiryas Joel Vill. Sch. Dist. v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687, 705, 114 S.Ct. 2481, 129 L.Ed.2d 546 (1994). 16 The three-part test developed in Lemon v. Kurtzman helps determine whether an accommodation statute achieves this neutrality by avoiding sponsorship, financial support, and active involvement of the sovereign in religious activity. 403 U.S. 602, 612, 91 S.Ct. 2105, 29 L.Ed.2d 745 (1971) (quoting Walz v. Tax Comm'n, 397 U.S. 664, 668, 90 S.Ct. 1409, 25 L.Ed.2d 697 (1970)). A statute will survive an Establishment Clause attack if (1) it has a secular legislative purpose, (2) its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion, and (3) it does not foster excessive government entanglement with religion. Id. at 612-13, 91 S.Ct. 2105.
17 Just because RLUIPA addresses religion does not mean that its purpose is religious in nature. The secular purpose requirement does not mean that the law's purpose must be unrelated to religion — that would amount to a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups, and the Establishment Clause has never been so interpreted. Corp. of Presiding Bishop v. Amos, 483 U.S. 327, 335, 107 S.Ct. 2862, 97 L.Ed.2d 273 (1987) (internal quotation and citation omitted). Nothing in RLUIPA indicates that wholly impermissible purposes, such as the advancement of religion, underlie RLUIPA. See Bowen v. Kendrick, 487 U.S. 589, 603, 108 S.Ct. 2562, 101 L.Ed.2d 520 (1988). Moreover, the Supreme Court has upheld statutes that alleviate significant governmental interference with the ability of religious organizations to define and carry out their religious missions. Corp. of Presiding Bishop, 483 U.S. at 335, 107 S.Ct. 2862. RLUIPA intends a secular legislative purpose: to protect the exercise of religion in institutions from unwarranted and substantial infringement.
18 The primary effect of RLUIPA neither advances nor inhibits religion. It does not impose affirmative duties on states that would require them to facilitate or subsidize the exercise of religion. RLUIPA instead calls for exactly the opposite — forbidding states from imposing impermissible burdens on religious worship so that prisoners may practice their religion free from unlawful interference. The statute does not violate the Establishment Clause just because it seeks to lift burdens on religious worship in institutions without affording corresponding protection to secular activities or to non-religious prisoners. RLUIPA merely accommodates and protects the free exercise of religion, which the Constitution allows. See Corp. of Presiding Bishop, 483 U.S. at 338, 107 S.Ct. 2862.
19 Finally, RLUIPA does not foster excessive government entanglement with religion. The statute, on its face, does not require pervasive monitoring to prevent the government from indoctrinating religion. Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203, 233, 117 S.Ct. 1997, 138 L.Ed.2d 391 (1997) (citation omitted). RLUIPA does not call on the federal government to supervise prisons and institutions closely to make sure federal funds do not sponsor religious practices. Unlike conferring a tax exemption on a religious organization or awarding aid to a faith-based school, RLUIPA removes burdens on religious exercise rather than according benefits. Likewise, RLUIPA does not require prison officials to develop expertise on religious worship or to evaluate the merits of different religious practices or beliefs. The statute itself defines religious exercise, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-5(7)(A), and requires only that states avoid substantially burdening these practices without a compelling justification. 20 Because RLUIPA has a secular legislative purpose, its primary effect is neither to advance nor inhibit religion, and it does not foster excessive government entanglement with religion, RLUIPA does not violate the Establishment Clause.
21 RLUIPA does not usurp the regulation of a core state function in violation of the Tenth Amendment. True, the prosecution and punishment of crime remains a basic police power. See Kelly v. Robinson, 479 U.S. 36, 47, 107 S.Ct. 353, 93 L.Ed.2d 216 (1986). However, RLUIPA does not regulate the operation of prisons. Under the statute, prison officials remain free to run their prisons as they see fit. RLUIPA just prohibits prison officials from unduly burdening inmates' free exercise of religion in the process. 22 The Tenth Amendment [does] not concomitantly limit the range of conditions legitimately placed on federal grants. Dole, 483 U.S. at 210, 107 S.Ct. 2793. While Congress may not have authority to commandeer the management of state prisons, it does have power to fix the terms upon which its money allotments to states shall be disbursed. Id. (citation omitted). If states disagree with the requirements of RLUIPA, they remain free to forgo federal funding and opt out of its mandates. 3
23 The Eleventh Amendment does not bar this suit against California State prison officials under RLUIPA. Citizens of a state may not sue their own state. Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890). This case, by contrast, involves a suit by citizens of California against officials of the State of California for prospective injunctive relief. Ex Parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908). This case falls squarely within the Ex Parte Young exception to sovereign immunity and does not violate the Eleventh Amendment.
24 RLUIPA likely is a response to Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 110 S.Ct. 1595, 108 L.Ed.2d 876 (1990), which held that laws of general applicability that incidentally burden religious conduct do not offend the First Amendment. RLUIPA raises this standard by requiring states to demonstrate that prison regulations substantially burdening the free exercise of religion are the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling government interest. RLUIPA does not erroneously review or revise a specific ruling of the Supreme Court because the statute does not overturn the Court's constitutional interpretation in Smith. See Miller v. French, 530 U.S. 327, 341-43, 120 S.Ct. 2246, 147 L.Ed.2d 326 (2000). Rather, RLUIPA provides additional protection for religious worship, respecting that Smith set only a constitutional floor — not a ceiling — for the protection of personal liberty. Smith explicitly left heightened legislative protection for religious worship to the political branches. Smith, 494 U.S. at 890, 110 S.Ct. 1595.