Cite as: 515 U. S. 472 (1995)
Breyer, J., dissenting
408 U. S., at 481 (" 'grievous loss' ") (citations omitted). Those problems do not require abandoning that precedent. Kentucky Dept. of Corrections v. Thompson, supra; Olim v. Wakinekona, 461 U. S. 238 (1983); Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U. S. 460 (1983); Meachum v. Fano, 427 U. S. 215 (1976); Montanye v. Haymes, 427 U. S. 236 (1976).
IV
The Court today reaffirms that the "liberty" protected by the Fourteenth Amendment includes interests that state law may create. Ante, at 483-484. It excludes relatively minor matters from that protection. Ante, at 484 (requiring "atypical and significant hardship on the inmate"). And, it does not question the vast body of case law, including cases from this Court and every Circuit, recognizing that segregation can deprive an inmate of constitutionally protected "liberty." See, e. g., Hewitt, supra, at 472; Rodi v. Ventetuolo, 941 F. 2d 22, 28 (CA1 1991); Soto v. Walker, 44 F. 3d 169, 172 (CA2 1995); Layton v. Beyer, 953 F. 2d 839, 849 (CA3 1992); Baker v. Lyles, 904 F. 2d 925, 929 (CA4 1990); Dzana v. Foti, 829 F. 2d 558, 560-561 (CA5 1987); Mackey v. Dyke, 29 F. 3d 1086, 1092 (CA6 1994); Alston v. DeBruyn, 13 F. 3d 1036, 1042- 1043 (CA7 1994); Brown v. Frey, 889 F. 2d 159, 166 (CA8 1989); Walker v. Sumner, 14 F. 3d 1415, 1419 (CA9 1994); Reynoldson v. Shillinger, 907 F. 2d 124, 126-127 (CA10 1990); McQueen v. Tabah, 839 F. 2d 1525, 1528-1529 (CA11 1988); Lucas v. Hodges, 730 F. 2d 1493, 1504-1506 (CADC 1984). That being so, it is difficult to see why the Court reverses, rather than affirms, the Court of Appeals in this case.
The majority finds that Conner's "discipline in segregated confinement did not present" an "atypical, significant deprivation" because of three special features of his case, taken together. Ante, at 486. First, the punishment "mirrored" conditions imposed upon inmates in "administrative segregation and protective custody." Ibid. Second, Hawaii's
501
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