Supreme Court Limits Prisoners' Bivens Actions

The U.S. Supreme Court today decided a case that may impact the right of prisoners in some cases to sue for infringement of their 1st Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.  In Minneci v. Pollard, (Sup. Ct., Jan. 12, 2012), the Court held, 8-1, that:

where ... a federal prisoner seeks damages from privately employed personnel working at a privately operated federal prison, where the conduct allegedly amounts to a violation of the Eighth Amendment, and where that conduct is of a kind that typically falls within the scope of traditional state tort law ..., the prisoner must seek a remedy under state tort law. We cannot imply a Bivens remedy in such a case.

SCOTUSblog reports on the decision.