Hudson v. McMillian

We granted certiorari in this case “limited to the following question,” which we formulated for the parties:

“ ‘Did the Fifth Circuit apply the correct legal test when determining that petitioner’s claim that his Eighth Amendment rights under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause were not violated as a result of a single incident of force by respondents which did not cause a significant injury?’ ” 500 U. S. 903 (1991).

Guided by what it considers “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society,” ante, at 8 (internal quotation marks omitted), the Court today…