Opinion ID: 612111
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Count II: Due Process

Text: 28 In Count II, Appellees allege that WCDC's acquiescence to attorney and paralegal visits to the prison created a protected liberty interest in that access of which they were deprived when WCDC altered its policy toward Chester. The district court dismissed this count, finding no evidence of a legal guarantee that Chester could conduct legal visits with inmates at the WCDC and, at most, an informal arrangement which did not implicate the Due Process Clause. We agree with this determination. As the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remarked in a case factually similar to the one at hand: [T]he right to ply the paralegal's trade does not per se entail a concomitant right to freely enter federal prisons to do so; the Bureau [of Prisons] need not afford opportunities to realize one's occupational aspirations. Phillips v. Bureau of Prisons, 591 F.2d 966, 970 (D.C.Cir.1979) (upholding exclusion of paralegal without requiring Bureau to demonstrate some threat to security). 29 Absent a protected liberty interest, Appellees cannot state a claim under the Due Process Clause and Appellants are entitled to qualified immunity with regard to Count II of the complaint. Because the district court dismissed the claim under Appellants' motion for summary judgment, we affirm its ruling on that issue.