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Craig Eugene Smith v. James McKinney, Warden, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 18-3613 · judgment March 31, 2020

Certiorari denied · May 3, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

This Court has held that a prisoner has a liberty interest—protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment—in avoiding conditions of confinement that impose on the prisoner “atypical and significant” hardships in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life. Wilkinson v. Austin, 545 U.S. 209, 223 (2005). The question presented is: Whether a court determining if a prisoner has suffered an “atypical and significant” hardship must consider factors such as the duration of and justification for the particular conditions imposed (as several courts of appeals have held), or whether it can confine its analysis to a comparison of the conditions of other prison populations (as the court below held, joining several other courts of appeals).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Anton Metlitsky
O'Melveny & Myers

For respondent
Samuel Paul Langholz
Office of the Attorney General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. May 03 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 14 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/30/2021.
  3. Apr 13 2021
    Reply of petitioner Craig Eugene Smith filed. (Distributed)
  4. Mar 16 2021
    Motion to delay distribution of the petition for a writ certiorari until April 14, 2021 granted.
  5. Mar 15 2021
    Motion of petitioner to delay distribution of the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 15.5 from March 24, 2021 to April 14, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  6. Mar 08 2021
    Brief of respondents James McKinney, et al. in opposition filed.
  7. Jan 25 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 8, 2021.
  8. Jan 22 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 4, 2021 to March 8, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Jan 05 2021
    Response Requested. (Due February 4, 2021)
  10. Dec 09 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
  11. Oct 22 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 27, 2020)