People walk across the plaza of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court’s new term in Washington, U.S. October 3, 2022.

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s three liberal justices on Monday sharply objected to the court’s refusal to hear an appeal by a former Illinois inmate who was kept in solitary confinement in a state prison and virtually deprived of any exercise for about three years.

The court takes up appeals when at least four of its nine justices agree to hear a case. None of the six conservative justices joined with the liberal justices to provide the fourth vote needed to hear former inmate Michael Johnson’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling rejecting his 2016 civil rights lawsuit accusing prison officials of violating the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment bar on cruel and unusual punishment.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in an eight-page dissent joined by fellow liberals Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, said the lower court applied the wrong legal test to determine whether Johnson’s treatment violated the Eighth Amendment.

Illinois Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul had urged the justices to reject the appeal.

Johnson, 42, is currently released on parole, according to his lawyer Daniel Greenfield. Johnson has a history of mental illness, including depression and bipolar disorder, and suicide attempts, according to his lawyers.

Johnson sought monetary damages, medical treatment and other relief in the lawsuit accusing prison officials of violating the Eighth Amendment by denying him exercise for a prolonged period.

Reporting by John Kruzel in Washington and Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham

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