Opinion ID: 185632
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: What Must Be Done on Remand

Text: 32 We remand to the District Court to determine whether appellants have met the threshold requirement of showing a substantial burden on the free exercise of their religion. They certainly have raised a genuine issue of material fact regarding the question, rendering the District Court's grant of summary judgment inappropriate. Appellees did not contest that appellants' beliefs are both religious and sincerely held. See Br. for Appellees at 7 n.7. The record also includes evidence that the practice of taking wine with Communion is important in terms of appellants' religious beliefs. For example, the record indicates that appellants have regularly attended Mass and taken wine at Communion throughout their incarceration and for years prior to their incarceration. See Levitan Decl. ¶¶ 3, 7, reprinted in J.A. 69-70; Leonardo Decl. ¶¶ 3-4, reprinted in J.A. 75-76. This suggests that taking wine with Communion is not an unimportant part of appellants' religious practice. In their complaint, appellants also alleged that they believed it to be the command of the Lord Jesus Christ to consume both bread and wine, because the sign of Communion is more complete when given under both species, although no similar statements appear in their declarations. Am. Compl. ¶ 33, reprinted in J.A. 32. 33 The record further indicates that the practice of consuming wine during Communion has a readily identifiable basis in the practices of many Catholics and in church doctrine. Sister VanBaalen's declaration confirms that appellants' belief that Communion is more complete as a sign when received under both species has a basis in their creed. VanBaalen Decl. ¶ 4, reprinted in J.A. 51. The record additionally demonstrates that taking wine with Communion is a practice that was recognized in many of the religious settings in which appellants have practiced, including in their various places of incarceration. Levitan Decl. ¶ 3, reprinted in J.A. 69-70 (stating that appellant was given wine with Communion, presumably by Catholic prison chaplains, at prisons in Petersburg, Virginia; Yazoo City, Mississippi; and Pensacola). In short, the taking of wine with Communion cannot be viewed as a trumped-up practice that appellants have conveniently labeled religious. The fact that some other Catholics only consume the species of bread is not dispositive, nor are the statements of clergy that the taking of wine by congregants is not a mandatory element of the ritual. 34 While appellants have raised a genuine issue of fact regarding the threshold test, the exact nature of their belief in wine's religious importance is not entirely clear. Some of the most fervent statements of their beliefs appear in their complaint but not in their respective declarations. Rather than prejudge the issue, we remand so that the District Court can make the required determination. And regardless of its decision on the threshold inquiry, the District Court should also conduct the appropriate balancing analysis under Turner and O'Lone to determine whether the BOP regulation is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. If there is any future appeal in this case, the appellate court may benefit from findings by the District Court on both the threshold issue and the Turner/O'Lone test. 35 The Turner and O'Lone inquiry should focus on whether the change in regulatory regimes — from one in which Catholic inmates could consume wine through intinction to one in which only the chaplain is permitted to consume wine — is justified by a legitimate penological interest. In making this assessment, the District Court must bear in mind that, under the new rule, the prison still allows alcohol to be consumed on the prison grounds and in prisoners' presence under the supervision of the chaplain. The narrow question will be whether the ban on the chaplain's actually administering wine to the inmates, as opposed to merely drinking it in their presence, is justified. 36 While the four Turner factors are not a mandatory part of the balancing test, the Supreme Court held them out as relevant and useful. First, the District Court should determine whether there is a valid, rational connection between the prohibition and any legitimate governmental interest put forward to justify it. The relationship between the interest and the rule must be rational, so that if the interest were the prevention of drunkenness among inmates, the prison would have to explain how that interest is implicated by the negligible amount of wine ingested through intinction. Under the second Turner factor, the District Court should consider whether the inmates have alternatives open to them. Third, the District Court should consider the impact on the prison and on other inmates of allowing the Catholic prisoners to consume wine along with the chaplain during Communion. Finally, the court should consider the availability of alternatives to the rule. Under this prong, the court should evaluate any asserted problems with the previous policy of allowing inmates to consume small amounts of wine during Communion. See Turner, 482 U.S. at 89-91, 107 S.Ct. at 2261-63. Because appellees submitted no evidence relevant to the Turner and O'Lone analysis, the District Court should conduct further factfinding on this issue.