Washington v. Klem

OPINION OF THE COURT

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

This case requires us to define “substantial burden” under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000cc et seq, to determine whether the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ (DOC’s) restriction on inmates that they possess in their cells only ten books at a time substantially burdens inmate Henry Unseld Washington’s religious exercise. We hold that it does. Because the DOC is unable to show that its ten-book policy is the least restrictive means to further its compelling governmental interest in the…