Sossamon v. Texas

Sossamon v. Texas, 563 U.S. 277 (2011), was a United States Supreme Court case on the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The majority decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, held that the petitioner could not sue Texas state officials in their official capacity for damages under the RLUIPA, affirming a lower court ruling. The majority reasoned that the officials could not be sued under the RLUIPA because it was passed under the United States Congress’s Spending Power, not its Fourteenth Amendment Power.

Sossamon v. Texas
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued 2 November, 2010 Decided 20 April, 2011
Full case name	Harvey Leroy Sossamon, III, petitioner v. Texas et al.
Docket no.	08-1438
Citations	563 U.S. 277 (more)
Argument	Oral argument
Opinion announcement	Opinion announcement
Holding
State officials cannot be sued in their official capacity for monetary damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Affirmed decision of the Fifth Circuit.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Case opinions
Majority	Thomas, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Alito
Dissent	Sotomayor, joined by Breyer
Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Background

The petitioner, Harvey Leroy Sossamon, III, was an inmate at the maximum security French M. Robertson Unit. In 2006, he sued the state of Texas and prison officials under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Sossamon alleged that they were breaking the act by preventing him and other inmates from attending religious services if under disciplinary restrictions and disallowing use of the prison's chapel for religious worship under its policies.