Fifth Circuit Conservatives Find Court Can Hear Prison Appeal

The full Fifth Circuit’s conservative majority said the court could hear an appeal in a prison conditions case, over the protests of the court’s liberal members.

In an en banc opinion Monday, Judge Edith Jones wrote for the court’s majority that Chief Judge Shelly Dick of the Middle District of Louisiana handed down a final appealable order in issuing rulings about conditions at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Dick had presided over two trials, one on liability and the other on remedies, but hadn’t ordered final remedies when Louisiana began its appeal in the case.

“The finality of the district court’s ...