Opinion ID: 720568
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The District Court Reserved the Right to Modify

Text: 33 A consent decree may be judicially modified, over a party's objection, when the court has reserved the power to modify and articulates the long-term objective to be accomplished. 11 It cannot be gainsaid that the district court expressly reserved the power to modify sua sponte both the 1983 Order in general and each of the Modification Orders in particular. 34 In Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, 12 the Supreme Court explained that modification of a consent decree is governed by the same standards as those governing modifications of judgments, as set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). 13 Additionally, when the modification relates to the vindication of a constitutional right, the modification must be suitably tailored to the changed circumstance. 14 The decision to modify or not to modify a consent decree lies within the discretion of the district court. 15 35 Recent developments in Louisiana prisons have once again at least raised the specter of Eighth Amendment violations. In light of these apparent developments, on which we, perforce, express no opinion, the district court exercised its reserved right to revisit the '93 Modification Orders. Neither the reservation of this right nor the exercise thereof under these circumstances was an abuse of discretion.