Overview
- Nine justices unanimously rejected GEO Group’s request for a fast‑track appeal, allowing the 2014 class action to move forward in lower courts.
- Justice Elena Kagan wrote that nothing in the ICE contract instructed GEO to adopt the contested work rules at the Aurora, Colorado facility.
- The ruling is procedural and does not decide liability, with the Court noting GEO can pursue an appeal after a final judgment.
- Plaintiffs allege detainees were compelled to perform janitorial and other work for $1 a day or no pay and faced punishment, including solitary confinement, for refusing.
- Concurring opinions by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito agreed with the outcome, with Alito arguing federal contractors should sometimes get immediate appeals; the decision could expose large private detention operators like GEO to more litigation, as seen in a prior $23 million award in Washington state.