John Wetzel, et al. v. Roy L. Williams

For thirty-seven years, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) maintained a policy of housing all death-row inmates, including those with mental illnesses, in solitary confinement. The Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of this policy in 1988. And no precedent from either this Court or the Court of Appeals clearly established that the policy violated the United States Constitution during the relevant time period. Pet. App. 107a-114a (Phipps, J., dissenting in part). Nonetheless, a divided three-judge panel held that former DOC Secretary John Wetzel was not entitled to qualified immunity for continuing the purportedly unconstitutional policy. In holding that the law was clearly established, the Court of Appeals relied on a letter from two Department of Justice (DOJ) officials expressing their views about the policy’s constitutionality. Pet. App. 26a-40a (opinion). The question presented is: Was it clearly established for qualified immunity purposes that long-term solitary confinement for a death-row inmate with a mental illness violated the Eighth Amendment?