U.S. Supreme Court lets inmate confined to filthy prison cell sue guards

Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court last week, did not participate in the case. Taylor, who is serving an 11-year sentence for aggravated robbery, said he was left naked for six days in two different cells - one covered in human feces and the other covered in raw sewage - at a state psychiatric prison unit in Lubbock in 2013 following a suicide attempt.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed a Texas inmate to pursue his claim against prison officials that his civil rights were violated by being locked up in cells with extremely filthy conditions.

The justices, in an unsigned opinion, set aside a lower court ruling that found that prison officials were protected under a legal defense called qualified immunity from the claim in inmate Trent Taylor's lawsuit accusing them of violating the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court last week, did not participate in the case.

Taylor, who is serving an 11-year sentence for aggravated robbery, said he was left naked for six days in two different cells - one covered in human feces and the other covered in raw sewage - at a state psychiatric prison unit in Lubbock in 2013 following a suicide attempt.