Johnson v. Martin.

• Position: RELIGION - Brief Article

U.S. District Court

RLUIPA -- Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act

Johnson v. Martin, 223 F.Supp.2d 820 (W.D.Mich. 2002). A state prisoner brought an action alleging that a corrections department's classification of a religion and its prisoner members as a security threat group violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The district court denied the state's motion for summary judgment, finding that RLUIPA did not violate the Establishment Clause and that Congress did not exceed its powers under the Commerce Clause or Spending Clause. The court also held that RLUIPA did not violate the Tenth Amendment by legislating in areas reserved to the states, because the Act merely regulated states' activity and gave states the option to comply or to forego federal funding. The...