SCOTUS GVRs Knight v. Thompson — A Native Prisoner Matter — in Light of Holt v. Hobbs

Here is the order.

BTW, a GVR stands for “grant vacate remand.” It usually means, as I believe it does here, that the Supreme Court has decided a matter that will affect the disposition of another matter pending before the Court at the time. Here, the Court granted cert to review Holt v. Hobbs. and decided that matter last week. Also pending was a cert petition in Knight v. Thompson involving a challenge by a Native prisoner to his warden’s order to cut his hair. the Court held the Native petition while it decided the other petition, which involved a Muslim man’s challenge to his warden’s order to shave his beard.

Now the Knight case will return to the Eleventh Circuit where the court will review the case in light of the decision in Holt.

NARF: “The impact of Holt v. Hobbs on Native American inmates”

Here. An excerpt:

Holt holds that this approach is wrong.  Much like Knight, the Arkansas prison officials in Holtfeared safety and security issues and ignored the successful measures taken by the vast majority of prison systems to safely accommodate religious beards.  The Holt opinion makes clear that these successful, widespread accommodations are indeed relevant and indicate that Arkansas was not utilizing the “least restrictive means.”  Additionally, the Supreme Court emphasized that judges cannot simply defer to the opinions of prison officials as a means of practicing “unquestioning acceptance,” thereby abdicating judicial responsibility to apply RLUIPA’s very rigorous standard.  Courts must demand persuasive proof that denial of an exemption to a specific person is the least restrictive means of furthering compelling penological interests.  Like the prison officials in Holt, the officials in Knight failed to meet this standard, and the court applied an unquestioning acceptance of their opinions.  It is an error that has plagued the cases of several Native American inmates through several decades of litigation, and we believe that Holt provides the clarity necessary to remedy this persistent issue.

The Holt opinion changes a fundamental aspect of how certain prison systems deal with Native Americans and their religious practices.  For those Natives who reside in the darkest corners of U.S. penal systems, it is no longer the rule that they cannot engage in their traditional religious practices merely because their jailors say so.  Courts will demand more, just as Congress intended when it enacted RLUIPA.

SCOTUS Upholds Prisoner Religious Freedom Claim in Holt v. Hobbs

Here is the opinion.
Here is the NYTs article describing the opinion.

NCAI and Huy filed briefs in this matter, here.

Of note, perhaps, Justice Sotomayor authored a separate concurring opinion quoting from two lower court decisions involving Indian or Indian-related claims, Yellowbear and Wilgus.

SCOTUS Denies Cert in Seminole Tribe v. Florida

Here.

The cert petition is here.

The Onion: “Supreme Court Releases Young Scalia’s Audition Tape”

Here.

SCOTUSBlog Lists Seminole Tribe v. Florida as Petition to Watch for Friday’s Conference

Here. And the cert stage briefs here.

I predict a decent chance for a CVSG but the Court ultimately will deny this one.

Lower court materials and my commentary here.

Wisconsin Files Cert Petition in Night Deer Hunting Case

Here is the petition in Wisconsin v. Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians:

Wisconsin Petition for Writ of Certiorari

Question presented:

A moving party under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(5) must show a significant change in factual  conditions or law that renders continued enforcement of a judgment detrimental to the public interest. The proceeding is not a relitigation of the underlying judgment. Here, the Seventh Circuit shifted the burden to the non-moving party (Wisconsin) to justify an underlying judgment that night hunting of deer was fundamentally unsafe. Does Rule 60(b)(5) permit shifting the burden to the non-moving party to justify the original judgment?

LCO Cert Opp

Seventh Circuit materials here.

CashCall v. Inetianbor Cert Stage Briefs

Here:

CashCall Cert Petition

Inetianbor Cert Opp Brief

Questions presented:

I. Whether there is a non-textual “integrality exception” to the mandatory requirement in the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) that a substitute arbitrator “shall” be appointed by the court whenever the parties’ chosen arbitrator is unavailable for “any … reason”? 9 U.S.C. § 5.

II. Whether a court may void an entire arbitration clause – and force the parties to litigate in court – despite the fact that the parties included a severance provision that, if applied, would render the arbitration clause enforceable?

Lower court materials here.

District court materials here.

AALS Indian Nations Section Panel on Michigan v. Bay Mills

Alex Pearl, Ed Kneedler, Ryan Seelau, Thomas Zlamal, and Bill Wood

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Law Professors Amicus Brief in Stockbridge-Munsee Community v. New York

Here.

Previous coverage here.