Smith v. Kind

Summary

Justice Sotomayor dissents from the Court’s denial of the petition for a writ of certiorari, arguing that the Seventh Circuit erred in granting qualified immunity to prison officials who locked Antonio Smith naked in a freezing cell for 23 hours. She contends that existing precedent makes clear that such conduct violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and that the Court should have summarily reversed the lower court’s decision.