Federal Judiciary

Notable Petition

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

The recently filed Shreffler v. Lewis petition is worth a note.  The brief in opposition has not yet been filed, nor has it been distributed for conference.

Docket: 09-903
Issues: (1) Whether the Eighth Amendment?s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause applies to use of force claims brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by convicted inmates who have not yet been sentenced; (2) whether the legal standard used to evaluate Section 1983 use of force claims under the Eighth Amendment should also be used to evaluate use of force claims under the substantive due process component of the Fourteenth Amendment; and (3) whether the Seventh Circuit, in rejecting petitioner?s qualified immunity defense, failed to give the correctional officer the proper deference in the use of a Taser on a known violent and unruly jail inmate.

• Opinion below (7th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).