Johnson v. California

The California Department of Corrections (defendant) maintained an unwritten policy of racially segregating prisoners in double cells for up to 60 days upon each transfer to a new facility, a policy prison administrators defended as targeting violence among racial gangs. Garrison Johnson (plaintiff), a California prisoner, challenged the policy under the Equal Protection Clause; the district court granted California summary judgment, and the court of appeals affirmed after applying a deferential rather than strict-scrutiny standard of review, prompting the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari.