High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319 (1972) is a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court upheld a Free Exercise claim on the basis of the allegations that the state of Texas had discriminated against a Buddhist prisoner by "denying him a reasonable opportunity to pursue his Buddhist faith comparable to that offered other prisoners adhering to conventional religious precepts." Cruz was denied his first amendment right and his fourth amendment right