On November 13, 2024, Nevada prisoner Anthony Thomas Chernetsky finally secured what he had fought over 18 years to get from the state Department of Corrections (DOC): Permission to use natural anointing oils and build a sweatlodge to practice his Wiccan faith.

In May 2006, Chernetsky sued the state and several DOC officials under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc, alleging that DOC’s AR [Administrative Regulation] 810 violated his rights to practice his faith—which required natural anointing oils, and which AR 810’s categorical ban on those oils substantially burdened.

In its long and convoluted history, the case went twice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Chernetsky prevailed, at least in part, both times. On remand to the federal court for the District of Nevada, Defendants’ motion for summary judgment was granted, while a cross-motion for summary judgment filed by Chernetsky was denied. He appealed again.

Returning to the appellate Court a third time, Defendants claimed that DOC had removed its ban on anointing oils, thereby mooting Chernetsky’s claim. But the Ninth Circuit found this argument “without merit.” The revised AR 810 made only synthetic oils available, while still denying the ...