The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared to agree with an Arkansas inmate’s complaint that his religious rights were violated when prison officials refused to let him grow out his beard in accordance with his Muslim beliefs.
It’s the first religious liberty case the court has taken up since its controversial Hobby Lobby decision in June that said businesses can use religious beliefs to opt out of an Affordable Care Act requirement that employers cover birth control for employees.
Inmate Gregory Holt says he should be allowed to grow a half-inch beard, arguing that the prison’s grooming policy against beards is discriminatory under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
The prison says the policy is necessary to order to stop inmates from hiding weapons and other contraband inside long beards. It also says beard-less inmates are easier for prison guards to identify when they move about the prison.
But the justices were much less divided on the issue than in the Hobby Lobby case, appearing skeptical of the prison’s justification for its beard ban.
Justice Samuel Alito suggested a simple solution — let Holt, also known as Abdul Maalik Muhammad, grow a beard but make him routinely comb it in front of prison officials “to see if a SIM card — or a revolver — falls out.”
Lawyers arguing on behalf of Holt said he is wiling to compromise and keep his beard at a half-inch length instead of the traditional full-beard worn by some Muslims.
Justice Antonin Scalia seemed frustrated the court was asked to rule about such facial hair minutiae and suggested the case possibly should be dismissed.
“I don’t want to do this a half-inch by a half-inch,” he said.
Most state prison systems don’t have total bans on inmate beards.
Holt, who is serving a life sentence for burglary and domestic battery, has been allowed to grow a beard while the case is on appeal.
A decision is expected before the court adjourns for its 2014-15 term, which began Monday and ends in late June.
