The Supreme Court ruled that a Rastafari man cannot seek damages from state prison guards who shaved his dreadlocks in violation of his religious rights in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines on Tuesday.

Guards at a Louisiana prison handcuffed Damon Landor to a chair and forcibly shaved his hair when he was weeks away from completing his five-month drug sentence.

Landor had handed the guards a federal appeals court ruling that shaving Rastafari inmates’ dreadlocks violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a federal religious liberty law. The guards threw it in the trash.

All sides condemned Landor’s treatment. But Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the six-justice conservative majority, said Landor can’t pursue damages because the state guards hadn’t formed any agreement with the federal government.

“Mr. Landor does not allege that any of those individuals has entered any agreement with the federal government, let alone that any of them has voluntarily and knowingly consented to answer private suits under RLUIPA,” Gorsuch wrote.

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