Guzman v. Sturgis

Issues: (1) Whether, when government officials state their intent to continue to violate an individual’s constitutional rights while actually violating them, those statements can be taken at face value for purposes of determining the subjective intent of the government official in regard to a claim for deliberate indifference and for purposes of determining the retaliatory intent element of a retaliation claim; and (2) whether government officials’ taunts of an individual during their violation of the individual’s constitutional rights are sufficient to support the causation element of a retaliation claim where the taunts are ongoing during the violation.