Court should have granted cert in pro se prisoner's religion case, Alito says
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Monday said he would have agreed to hear a pro se prisoner’s challenge to restrictions on practicing the Jewish religion.
Alito dissented to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny cert in the case filed by North Carolina inmate Israel Ben-Levi, who says prison officials imposed restrictions on Jewish group meetings that didn’t apply to other religions.
Ben-Levi says he sought permission in 2012 to pray and study the Torah with two other Jewish inmates. He says the director of chaplaincy services refused based on her understanding of Jewish doctrine requiring a quorum of 10 adult Jews for a study group, unless the group is led by a rabbi. No Orthodox rabbi was available to lead the group, the chaplaincy director said.
Ben-Levi’s pro se complaint alleged a denial of his statutory rights and his free exercise rights under the First Amendment. A federal court ruled for prison officials who argued, in essence “that Ben-Levi’s religious exercise was not burdened because he misunderstands his own religion,” Alito wrote. “If Ben-Levi truly understood Judaism, respondent implies, he would recognize that his proposed study group was not consistent with Jewish practice.”
A federal appeals court had affirmed the district court’s ruling in favor of prison officials.
Alito said U.S. Supreme Court precedent forecloses “the argument that a plaintiff’s own interpretation of his or her religion must yield to the government’s interpretation.” He said he would grant review and summarily reverse the judgment below. “The court’s indifference to this discriminatory infringement of religious liberty is disappointing,” Alito wrote.
The case is Ben-Levi v. Brown.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
