WASHINGTON (AP) – Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has emerged as a powerful new ally for prison reform advocates who have spent years campaigning against solitary confinement.
Kennedy took the unusual step earlier this summer of condemning the practice, writing a separate opinion in a California death penalty case that had nothing to do with the issue.
It wasn’t the first time Kennedy had spoken out on the topic, but the tone of his opinion surprised many civil liberties groups with its almost explicit call for a fresh legal challenge to long-term prisoner isolation.
Some lawsuits challenging the practice are already being heard in lower courts, including a Virginia case that could make its way to the Supreme Court as early as the new term beginning in October.