Friend of the Court Brief
A “friend of the court” or amicus, brief is filed by someone not a direct party to the case, but who has an interest in its outcome. These briefs seek to supplement the merits briefs by offering the Court additional arguments and information. Amicus briefs can be filed at the merits stage or at the certiorari stage. travel socks
The Seventh Amendment gives people a constitutional right to a jury trial in civil cases seeking money damages. The Supreme Court will now decide whether incarcerated plaintiffs have a right to a jury trial on questions of administrative exhaustion under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, when the facts underlying exhaustion would also decide the merits of their case.
Michigan state prisoner Kyle Brandon Richards sued Residential Unit Manager Thomas Perttu for sexual abuse, retaliation, and destruction of property. As part of his retaliation claim, Richards alleged that Perttu prevented him from filing grievances related to the alleged sexual abuse by ripping up and otherwise destroying grievances that Richards had drafted; that Perttu threatened to kill him if he continued to try to file grievances; and that he was held in administrative segregation for doing so.
Perttu argued that Richards failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, as required of incarcerated plaintiffs by the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”), and therefore his case should be dismissed. The Sixth Circuit held that that the Seventh Amendment requires a jury trial to resolve genuine disputes of material fact regarding PLRA exhaustion, if those disputes of fact are intertwined with the merits of the plaintiff’s claim.
truck cap The ACLU filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the Sixth Circuit’s decision. The ACLU brief argues that the lower court’s decision gives full effect to the PLRA’s exhaustion provision, and is required by the constitutional guarantees of the Seventh Amendment. Our brief also urges the Court to reject arguments by the state and its amici that the Sixth Circuit’s decision will result in more lawsuits and more jury trials because those arguments are irrelevant to the Seventh Amendment analysis and contrary to empirical evidence.