McAlpine v. Thompson

EBEL, Circuit Judge.

In August 1994, while incarcerated in a federal facility, Johnnie Louis McAlpine (“McAlpine”), a member of the Native American Church, brought a pro se action in federal court under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (“RFRA”), seeking to compel Warden Ron Thompson (“Thompson” or “Warden”) to provide him with peyote and other “necessary items” to conduct Native American Church ceremonies. The district court reached the merits of McAlpine’s claims and granted the Warden’s motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, for summary judgment.…