Gerhardt v. Lazaroff.

• Position: IMMUNITY - Brief Article

U.S. District Court

ELEVENTH AMENDMENT

Gerhardt v. Lazaroff, 221 F.Supp.2d 827 (S.D.Ohio 2002). State prisoners sued prison officials in three separate actions, alleging that each prisoner was denied the right to practice his religion due to unwarranted concerns about security, in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The district court denied the defendants' motion to dismiss the actions, finding that it was a proper exercise of Congressional power to require states that receive federal funds for prison activities or programs to comply with RLUIPA. The court held that the requirement did not violate the Establishment Clause, that the state was not immune under the Tenth Amendment, and that the state had waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity. The court noted that the requirement applied only to the receipt of...