From the Texas Tribune: U.S. Supreme Court allows inmate to sue prison officers after he was forced to spend six days in unsanitary cells with human waste

 Federalism and the US Supreme Court.

- Scotusblog: Taylor v. Riojas.

- Click here for the story.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Texas psychiatric prison inmate left for days in cells covered in either feces or sewage can sue six prison officers. That decision overturned an appeals court ruling that the officers had "qualified immunity," a legal doctrine that protects public officials from civil cases and only allows lawsuits where there are clear violations of constitutional rights.

The high court has previously refused to hear several qualified immunity cases. The doctrine has been used to stop civil cases against police and correctional officers. But in Monday's ruling, the justices called the facts in Trent Michael Taylor's case “particularly egregious” and said that any officer should have known that the conditions he was placed in “offended the Constitution.”

Taylor is suing six officers from the John T. Montford Psychiatric Facility Unit in Lubbock. Taylor alleged in the federal district court in Lubbock that he was naked when he was forced into a cell whose floor, windows, walls and ceiling were covered in feces. The faucet in the cell was also covered with feces and Taylor said he could not drink water. After three days, Taylor was transferred to a cell with a clogged drain overflowing with raw sewage. That cell had no bed or a toilet. Taylor claims he was told to urinate on the floor.