Prisoner asserts rights under Religious Freedom and Institutionalized Persons Act

Clients Lambirth, Raymond

Jones Day assisted a pro se prisoner, Raymond Lambirth, who brought a First Amendment and Equal Protection challenge to the prison's policy prohibiting him from corresponding with inmates at other institutions. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendant prison officials, and the Ninth Circuit appointed Jones Day to brief and argue Mr. Lambirth's appeal. On appeal, we argued that, in granting summary judgment prematurely, the district court (1) failed to honor its own instructions to Mr. Lambirth for opposing summary judgment; and (2) improperly denied Mr. Lambirth's pending requests for additional discovery. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment on the ground that any procedural errors made by the district court were harmless.

Lambirth v. Cambra