Opinion ID: 2824637
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plaintiffs’ Additional Legal Rights

Text: In a mere two pages at the end of their initial brief, Plaintiffs assert that the ADOC’s hair-length restrictions violate their “additional legal rights.” Specifically, Plaintiffs claim that the ADOC’s hair-length policy violates their free exercise and freedom of association rights under the First Amendment, their constitutional rights to due process and equal protection of the laws, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and their rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1985. Except for their equal protection claim, Plaintiffs provide no supporting discussion and have therefore abandoned these additional issues in this appeal. See Rowe v. Schreiber, 139 F.3d 1381, 1382 n.1 (11th Cir. 1998) (issues mentioned in passing but without supporting argument or discussion are abandoned). Plaintiffs do present a cursory equal protection argument, but it is wholly meritless. Plaintiffs claim that the ADOC’s hair-length policy treats them differently than other inmates on the basis of race, religion, and sex. There is absolutely no evidence in the record to support the contention that the hair-length policy—which applies to all male inmates without exception—discriminates on the basis of race or religion. Furthermore, while the policy does establish different standards for male and female inmates, the record unmistakably shows that the ADOC has valid reasons for the different hair-length standards and the regulations are not arbitrary or unreasonable. See Hill v. Estelle, 537 F.2d 214, 215-16 (5th 25 Case: 12-11926 Date Filed: 08/05/2015 Page: 26 of 27 Cir. 1976) (upholding differential prison grooming regulations against an equal protection challenge because “[t]he disparity between the regulations for male and female inmates is not so grievous as to make them arbitrary or unreasonable, cruel or unusual, and the wisdom of the disparate regulations will be left to the judgment of state penologists”); accord Fegans, 537 F.3d at 906 (upholding differential prison grooming regulations against an equal protection challenge under a “reasonableness” standard).