The following excerpt is from Garcia v. Morris, 18-3817 (2nd Cir. 2019):
To state a claim under 1983 for denial of due process arising out of a disciplinary hearing, a plaintiff must show both that he: (1) possessed a liberty interest; and (2) was deprived of that interest without sufficient process. See Ortiz v. McBride, 380 F.3d 649, 654 (2d Cir. 2004). When
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the liberty interest is created by state law, we examine whether the "relevant state law or regulation . . . require[s] specific mandatory substantive predicates to govern administrative decisions and must mandat[e] the outcome to be reached upon a finding that the relevant criteria have been met[.]" Hernandez v. Coughlin, 18 F.3d 133, 137 (2d Cir. 1994) (internal quotation marks omitted; third alteration in original). If a statute does not mandate any particular outcome, e.g., when the decision is discretionary, then there is no protected liberty interest granted by the statute. Id.
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