ADRIAN F. KING, JR. v. JIM RUBENSTEIN
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Gregory, June 7, 2016,
Prisoner Rights – A prisoner has a fourth, eighth, and fourteenth amendment right not to have a pre-existing body modification removed from his body without reasonable grounds

Quote of the week: “That King decided to have marbles inserted into his penis, however, is of no moment…”

Liability for government officials:

For personal liability, “it is enough to show that the official, acting under color of state law, caused the deprivation of a federal right.”

In an official-capacity suit, however, “[m]ore is required”: the suit is “treated as a suit against the entity,” which must then be a “‘moving force’ behind the deprivation,”
thus, the entity’s “‘policy or custom’ must have played a part in the violation of federal law.”

A supervisor can be liable where (1) he knew that his subordinate “was engaged in conduct that posed a pervasive and unreasonable risk of constitutional injury”; (2) his response showed “deliberate indifference to or tacit authorization of the alleged offensive practices”; and (3) that there was an “affirmative causal link” between his inaction and the constitutional injury.”