Cite as: 502 U. S. 367 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
B
Once a moving party has met its burden of establishing either a change in fact or in law warranting modification of a consent decree, the district court should determine whether the proposed modification is suitably tailored to the changed circumstance. In evaluating a proposed modification, three matters should be clear.
Of course, a modification must not create or perpetuate a constitutional violation. Petitioners contend that double celling inmates at the Suffolk County Jail would be constitutional under Bell. Respondents counter that Bell is factually distinguishable and that double celling at the new jail would violate the constitutional rights of pretrial detainees.13
If this is the case—the District Court did not decide this issue, 734 F. Supp., at 565-566—modification should not be granted.
A proposed modification should not strive to rewrite a consent decree so that it conforms to the constitutional floor. Once a court has determined that changed circumstances warrant a modification in a consent decree, the focus should be on whether the proposed modification is tailored to resolve the problems created by the change in circumstances. A court should do no more, for a consent decree is a final judgment that may be reopened only to the extent that equity requires. The court should not "turn aside to inquire whether some of [the provisions of the decree] upon separate as distinguished from joint action could have been opposed
13 In the District Court, respondents introduced the report of an architectural consultant who claimed that the proposed modification would violate the standards of the American Correctional Association and the Massachusetts Division of Capital Planning and Operations by leaving detainees with inadequate cell, dayroom, and outdoor exercise space. See App. 146-179. See Bell, 441 U. S., at 544, n. 27 ("[W]hile the recommendations of these various groups may be instructive in certain cases, they simply do not establish the constitutional minima").
391
Page: Index Previous 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007