Supreme Court rules that prison guards can't be sued for shaving Rastafarian's head

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a Louisiana prisoner whose dreadlocks were forcibly shaved off by prison guards cannot sue the guards for money damages under a federal law enacted by Congress to protect the religious rights of prisoners. The vote was 6-to-3, with the court's conservative supermajority prevailing.

There is little dispute about the facts of the case. Damon Landor, a Rastafarian, had only three weeks left on his sentence when he was transferred to a prison in Louisiana. Although the previous prison where he was housed honored his religious vow of keeping his hair uncut, he was worried that the new prison might not, so he carried with him a copy of a 2017 court decision that required the Louisiana Department of Corrections to honor Rastafarian religious practices.