Farmer v. Brennan
| Farmer v. Brennan | |
|---|---|
| Argued January 12, 1994 Decided June 6, 1994 | |
| Full case name | Dee Farmer, Petitioner v. Edward Brennan, Warden, et al. |
| Docket no. | 92-7247 |
| Citations | 511 U.S. 825 (more) 114 S. Ct. 1970; 128 L. Ed. 2d 811 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Opinion announcement | Opinion announcement |
| Case history | |
| Prior | 11 F.3d 668 (7th Cir. 1992); cert. granted, 510 U.S. 811 (1993). |
| Subsequent | Vacated and remanded, 28 F.3d 1216 (7th Cir. 1994); appeal after remand, 81 F.3d 1444 (7th Cir. 1996). |
| Holding | |
| The "deliberate indifference" of an official at a prison to the substantial risk of any serious harm against an inmate is a violation of the Eighth Amendment. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Souter, joined by Rehnquist, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg |
| Concurrence | Blackmun |
| Concurrence | Stevens |
| Concurrence | Thomas (in judgment) |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. Amend. VIII | |
Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a prison official's "deliberate indifference" to a substantial risk of serious harm to an inmate violates the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment. Farmer built on two previous Supreme Court decisions addressing prison conditions, Estelle v. Gamble and Wilson v. Seiter. The decision marked the first time the Supreme Court directly addressed sexual assault in prisons.