Rafael Santiago v. New York State Department of Correctional Services and Dr. Melvin J. Steinhart, New York State Department Correctional Services

WALKER, Circuit Judge:

This case presents the novel issue of whether an action for damages based on a state’s past deprivations of Fourteenth Amendment guarantees may be brought directly against a state under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, despite the traditional bar of Eleventh Amendment state immunity. Although a statutory civil rights damage action against a state alleging past Fourteenth Amendment deprivations is barred by the Eleventh Amendment, the question arises whether an action may nonetheless proceed directly under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment since the Fourteenth…