United States v. Robert Mattson

In the case before us, the Attorney General, representing the United States, seeks injunctive relief based on the deprivation of constitutional rights guaranteed by the eighth, thirteenth, and fourteenth amendments. It has been alleged that mentally retarded individuals, confined in a facility established by the state of Montana, live in an unsanitary and unsafe environment which results in injuries and deaths. Problems with understaffing and overcrowding have led to inadequate medical care and unproductive habilitative treatment.

It is unquestioned that protecting the constitutional rights of the mentally retarded has become a concern of national importance, and that the courts, when appropriate, can exercise their powers to protect those rights. Wyatt v. Aderholt, 503 F.2d 1305, 1316 (5th Cir. 1974). Institution of the suit represents a laudable effort on the part of the United States to ensure that those needing special care and treatment receive it. If nothing more need be considered, the allegations of inhumane conditions would compel us to hear this case. But we must also be concerned with fulfilling basic procedural requirements within the court system as well as…