The US Supreme Court on Monday heard the case of a devout Rastafarian who is seeking damages after his knee-length dreadlocks were forcibly shorn while he was in prison in Louisiana.

Damon Landor is seeking permission to sue individual officials of the Louisiana Department of Corrections for monetary damages for violating his religious rights.

"Without damages, officials can literally treat the law like garbage," Landor's lawyer Zachary Tripp told the court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.

Louisiana has acknowledged that the treatment of Landor by prison guards was "antithetical to religious freedom" and has amended its prison grooming policy.

But the southern US state insists that federal law does not permit money damages against a state official sued in his individual capaci

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