Today in Supreme Court History: August 26

Beltran v. Smith, 458 U.S. 1303 (decided August 26, 1982): imprisoned gangster, cooperating with prosecutors and in the Witness Protection Program, claims that he will be killed if transferred to another prison; Rehnquist denies stay of transfer order, no showing that program officials will fail to protect him (he served his time and afterward got back into gang activity, in 2009 was killed in a shootout with police)