Case Law

The Constitutional Right to Have Vegan Food

There are several different case laws that have established, and suggest that an individual has a constitutional right to vegan food (if you know of any others, please send them our way).

The standard for this type of constitutional protection was established in the conscientious objector case (which extended constitutional protection to moral or ethical beliefs about what is right and wrong that are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views), beginning with the United States V. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163 (1965) and Welsh V. United States, 390 U.S. 333 (1970). Recently, an inmate in the federal prison system sued to receive vegan meals in accordance with his ethical beliefs. After the court reviewed the facts and issued a preliminary order requiring the prison to provide the inmate with soy milk, the Bureau of Prisons added complete vegan meals to the menu at all of its facilities; Maydak V. United States, N. 97-2199 (DC Dist. May 8, 2000). Several years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission noted that the codified standard that the government used to define religious practice derived from the same legal standard listed above. In doing so, the commission ruled that a vegetarian bus driver was entitled to legal protection for his ethical beliefs and so could not be required to distribute coupons for free hamburgers; Anderson V. Orange County Transit Authority, charge No. 345960598 (1996).

Various other case law regarding vegan/vegetarian meals for inmates in prison/jail:
Beerheide V Suthers
Benjamin V Coughlin
History of Benjamin
DeHart V Horn
Shephardize Dehart
Goff V Graves
Jackson V Mann
Love V Reed
Makin V Colorado Department of Correction
McEachin V McGuinnis
Thompson V Vilsack
Williams V Morton
Williams V Bitner
Williams affirmed

The challenges

General helpful project:
General Prisoners Rights Project.