The following excerpt is from Baez v. Pinker, No. 15-1932-pr (2nd Cir. 2016):
A protected liberty interest can arise from state statutes or regulations that use mandatory language to "plac[e] substantive limitations on official discretion," Olim v. Wakinekona, 461 U.S. 238, 249 (1983); accord Tellier v. Fields, 280 F.3d 69, 81 (2d Cir. 2000).2 If the state decisionmaker "is not required to base its decisions on objective and defined criteria, but instead can deny the requested relief for any constitutionally
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