Raymond Tate v. D. J. Harmon, No. 21-6109 (4th Cir. 2022)
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Plaintiff, an inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Lee in western Virginia, commenced this action pro se against officials and employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, seeking monetary damages and other relief against Defendants, based on the manner in which he was treated in prison and the conditions of his confinement. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss, arguing, as relevant here, that Plaintiff’s claims were not cognizable under Bivens. The district court granted Defendants’ motion and dismissed Plaintiff’s action.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed. The court concluded that the inmate’s claim is, under the applicable standard, different from any Supreme Court decision finding a Bivens cause of action and that the relief he seeks in this new context should be provided by Congress, if at all. The court wrote its conclusion is based on the broad nature of the inmate’s claim and the separation-of-powers implications of recognizing a Bivens cause of action in the new context of his claim.
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