Brown v. Plata
Case Date: 05/23/2011
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Brown v. Plata was a 2011 decision of the United States Supreme Court holding that a court-mandated population limit was necessary to remedy a violation of prisoners’ Eighth Amendment constitutional rights. Justice Kennedy filed the majority opinion of the 5 to 4 decision, affirming a decision by a three judge panel of the United States District Court for the Eastern and Northern Districts of California which had ordered California to reduce its prison population to 137.5% of design capacity within two years.
Justice Scalia filed a dissent that was joined by Justice Thomas and Justice Alito filed a separate dissent that was joined by Chief Justice Roberts.
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