The State of Indiana has dismissed its appeal to the 7th Circuit in a case involving a prisoner's rights to religious freedom. The details of the case may not have been wildly unusual or precedent-setting – a Jewish prisoner requesting kosher food – but one of the arguments of Indiana's Department of Corrections would have greatly undercut the safeguards in the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), if accepted by the appellate court. Saving money, they said, in itself is a compelling interest overcoming the law's requirement that accommodation be made.
The Baptist Joint Committee filed an amicus brief with other religious liberty advocates urging the court to reject that position. By dropping the appeal, a lower court's ruling stands, mandating the accommodation.
The American Jewish Committee applauded the decision in a press release.
