Court Opinion

ID: 9470913
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:20:19.595681+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:10.769641
License: Public Domain

NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because I view the issues in this case as being inappropriate for summary judgment disposition, I must respectfully dissent. In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, a district court must analyze such a motion using “extreme caution for it operates to deny a litigant his day in court.” Smith v. Hudson, 600 F.2d 60, 63 (6th Cir.1979). Since the function of this motion is solely to determine whether there exists an issue of fact to be tried, the district court must examine the entire record before determining that no genuine issue exists. United States v. Articles of Device, etc., 527 F.2d 1008, 1011 (6th Cir.1976).
The appellants submitted affidavits which tended to show that of the inmates at this correctional facility, only 20 to 25 Christian inmates used the chapel on a regular basis while 25 to 30 Muslim inmates used the chapel. The institution submitted an affidavit of one of the prison chaplains who attested that approximately 190 inmates use the chapel. This conflict to the actual number of inmates who request chapel time is crucial to a determination of whether the institution is allocating its facilities in an evenhanded manner such that *1083no religious denomination is given preferential treatment. In light of this contradiction in the affidavits, I think this matter was inappropriate for summary disposition.
Additionally, I believe the majority opinion misreads Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 92 S.Ct. 1079, 31 L.Ed.2d 263 (1972), as recognizing a First Amendment freedom of religion violation in the prison context only when the limitations imposed by the prison administration subject the Muslim inmates to such disparate treatment in relation to the Christian inmates as to penalize them for pursuing their religion. My reading of Cruz reveals that implicit within the court’s analysis were considerations of the inherent establishment clause concerns that may be implicated in the prison setting. This is necessarily so because when a state institution fails to afford inmates of various denominations comparable opportunity to pursue their faith, the giving of preferential treatment to one religious denomination constitutes the basis for an establishment clause violation. As the Supreme Court affirmatively stated in Larson v. Valente, 456 U.S. 228, 102 S.Ct. 1673, 72 L.Ed.2d 33 (1982), “[t]he clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.” Id. 102 S.Ct. at 1683. I construe this to mean that when a state prison institution allocates religious facilities in an unevenhanded manner, a threshold establishment problem is presented. Thus, the mere fact that the Muslim inmates have not been denied the opportunity to practice their religion does not mean that no First Amendment violation has occurred.
Furthermore, I construe Cruz as requiring that a reasonable opportunity to pursue one’s faith encompasses some type of balancing on the part of the prison administration. My construction is based upon the following passage that is taken from the Cruz opinion:
We do not suggest, of course, that every religious sect or group within a prison— however few in number — must have identical facilities or personnel. A special chapel or place of worship need not be provided for every faith regardless of size; nor must a chaplain, priest, or minister be provided without regard to the extent of the demand. But reasonable opportunities must be afforded to all prisoners to exercise the religious freedom guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments without fear of penalty.
405 U.S. at 322 n. 2, 92 S.Ct. at 1081 n. 2 (emphasis supplied). I think the Court’s constant reference to the number and size of the religious group and the extent of their demands indicates its concern that when the group of inmates who practice a nonconventional religion are significant in number and the extent of their demands are not unreasonable, their requests should be balanced against the state’s legitimate exercise of its power to run its penal system. Thus, to the extent that the prison’s regulations regarding the use of the chapel limit the Muslim inmates’ exercise of their religious freedoms, they must be justified by “important or substantial governmental” interests. Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 413, 94 S.Ct. 1800, 1811, 40 L.Ed.2d 224 (1973). Accord, Weaver v. Jago, 675 F.2d 116, 119 (6th Cir.1982); Kahane v. Carlson, 527 F.2d 492 (2d Cir.1975).
Another word is in order. I am unpersuaded by the policy assertions advanced by the majority as justification for circumventing the clear rules which govern the grant of summary judgment. It is not for this Court, at this stage, to make a case for prison officials. The majority’s fear of “embroilpng] prisons and courts in dangerous and inappropriate areas of inquiry” is not a valid basis for depriving litigants of their entitlement to prove their claim that the state is unconstitutionally exercising its power. The concerns cited by the majority were presumably, or at least should have been, explored and weighed by the prison officials at the inception of the program. This Court is in the business of interpreting the Constitution and protecting rights arising thereunder, not shielding prison officials from the administrative complexities and other consequences growing out of policy determinations which they initiate.
*1084The majority seemingly abhors the fact that numbers may be involved here. The simple fact is that a consideration of numbers is one way the appellants have of demonstrating the claim they make. To that extent numbers become a fact to be confronted in considering the allegations in the complaint. Since the numbers are disputed, an issue of fact exists.
Thus, in light of my construction of the mandates of Cruz v. Beto, supra, and my conclusion that summary judgment was inappropriate due to the issue of fact regarding the number of inmates who use the chapel, I would reverse the judgment of the lower court.