Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 17 (1996)

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Cite as: 518 U. S. 343 (1996)

Opinion of the Court

As to remediation of the inadequacy that caused Bartholic's injury, a further question remains: Was that inadequacy widespread enough to justify systemwide relief? The only findings supporting the proposition that, in all of ADOC's facilities, an illiterate inmate wishing to file a claim would be unable to receive the assistance necessary to do so were (1) the finding with respect to Bartholic, at the Florence facility, and (2) the finding that Harris, while incarcerated at Perry-ville, had once been "unable to file [a] legal actio[n]." 834 F. Supp., at 1558. These two instances were a patently inadequate basis for a conclusion of systemwide violation and imposition of systemwide relief. See Dayton Bd. of Ed. v. Brinkman, 433 U. S. 406, 417 (1977) ("[I]nstead of tailoring a remedy commensurate with the three specific violations, the Court of Appeals imposed a systemwide remedy going beyond their scope"); id., at 420 ("[O]nly if there has been a systemwide impact may there be a systemwide remedy");

of one administrative deficiency automatically conferred the right to complain of all administrative deficiencies, any citizen aggrieved in one respect could bring the whole structure of state administration before the courts for review. That is of course not the law. As we have said, "[n]or does a plaintiff who has been subject to injurious conduct of one kind possess by virtue of that injury the necessary stake in litigating conduct of another kind, although similar, to which he has not been subject." Blum v. Yaretsky, 457 U. S. 991, 999 (1982). As even Justice Souter concedes, the inability of respondents to produce any evidence of actual injury to other than illiterate inmates (Bartholic and Harris) "dispose[s] of the challenge to remedial orders insofar as they touch non-English speakers and lock-down prisoners." Post, at 395.

Contrary to Justice Stevens's suggestion, see post, at 408, n. 4, our holding that respondents lacked standing to complain of injuries to non-English speakers and lockdown prisoners does not amount to "a conclusion that the class was improper." The standing determination is quite separate from certification of the class. Again, Blum proves the point: In that case, we held that a class of " 'all residents of skilled nursing and health related nursing facilities in New York State who are recipients of Medicaid benefits' " lacked standing to challenge transfers to higher levels of care, even though they had standing to challenge discharges and transfers to lower levels; but we did not disturb the class definition. See 457 U. S., at 997, n. 11, 999-1002.

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