Holt v. Hobbs
All five American ideals in the Declaration of Independence of Unalienable Rights, Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness, and All Men Are Created Equal are all contradicted in the Holt v. Hobbs case. The Holt v. Hobbs case was about an inmate of the Arkansas Department of Correction who wanted to grow a beard due to religious purposes. The prisoner Gregory Holt (also known as Abdul Maalik Muhammad) was a practicing Salafi Muslim who wanted to grow a beard for religious purposes. He was denied that right until the case was taken to the Supreme Court and the verdict was that he could grow his beard to one-half on an inch. This case contradicts with the Declaration of Independence because Holt was denied to live his life with personal liberty, which is one of the unalienable rights, because he could not grow a beard. He was also denied the right to life. Holt could not live his life as the way it pleased him because he was not allowed to grow a beard for religious purposes. Holt was also denied liberty because he could not do what he would like freely, which was to grow a beard. Holt was also denied the pursuit of happiness because growing a beard satisfied him and he was denied to grow one, contradicting the right of the pursuit of happiness. Lastly, he was denied that all men are created equal because he couldn’t grow a beard to practice his religion which was a right that everyone else had but he did not, making his rights not as equal to others. All five American ideals in the Declaration of Independence listed above are contradicted in the Holt v. Hobbs case.