Yesterday’s Washington Post reported that an Iowa Prosecutor filed a brief in the United States Supreme Court arguing that the constitution does not prohibit framing an innocent man and that prosecutors should be immune from suits by the victim of such framing. Pottawatamie County v. McGhee, Supreme Court No. 08-1065.

In the last of three plenary cases decided yesterday, the Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for a state to bar all damage lawsuits brought under federal civil rights law against prison officers or guards, allowing instead only a claim against the state itself in a special claims court.  Justice Stevens wrote for a 5-4 majority striking down a New York law as a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. Haywood v. Drown, SCOTUS No. 07-10374.