Rogers v. Jarrett
Rogers v. Jarrett
23-93
__________
BRIEF OF THE CATO INSTITUTE AS AMICUS
CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER
__________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ....................................... iii
INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE ............................. 1
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ..................................... 1
ARGUMENT ................................................................ 3
I. MODERN QUALIFIED IMMUNITY
DOCTRINE IS UNTETHERED FROM
ANY STATUTORY OR HISTORICAL
JUSTIFICATION. ............................................. 3
A. The text of Section 1983 does not
provide for any kind of immunity ............... 3
B. From the Founding Era through the
passage of Section 1983, good faith
was not a general defense to
constitutional torts. ..................................... 4
C. In the nineteenth century, good
faith was relevant, at most, to
merits. .......................................................... 8
D. As enacted by Congress, Section
1983 forecloses qualified immunity. ......... 11
II. QUALIFIED IMMUNITY HARMS
PUBLIC OFFICIALS BY ERODING
PUBLIC TRUST AND
UNDERMINING THE RULE OF
LAW. ................................................................ 12
III.STARE DECISIS SHOULD NOT
PREVENT THIS COURT FROM
REVISITING QUALIFIED
IMMUNITY. .................................................... 19
ii
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Page(s)
Cases
Anderson v. Myers, 182 F. 223 (C.C.D. Md.
1910) ..................................................................... 7, 9
Biden v. Nebraska, 143 S. Ct. 2355 (2023) ............... 20
Cope v. Cogdill, 142 S. Ct. 2573 (2022) ..................... 16
Cornelia T.L. Pillard, Taking Fiction
Seriously: The Strange Results of Public
Officials’ Individual Liability under Bivens,
88 GEO. L.J. 65 (1999) ............................................ 22
Crawford-El v. Britton, 523 U.S. 574 (1998) ...... 21, 24
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 142
S. Ct. 2228 (2022) ............................................. 20, 21
Filarsky v. Delia, 566 U.S. 377 (2012) ........................ 8
Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219 (1988) ................ 4, 22
Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) ......... 10, 22
Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730 (2002) .......................... 23
Kisela v. Hughes, 138 S. Ct. 1148 (2018) .................. 20
Little v. Barreme, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 170
(1804) .................................................................... 5, 6
Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335 (1986) ............... 3, 4, 12
Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137
(1803) ...................................................................... 24
Miller v. Horton, 26 N.E. 100 (Mass. 1891) ................ 6
Myers v. Anderson, 238 U.S. 368 (1915) ............... 7, 10
Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009) .......... 17, 23
iv
ARGUMENT
I. MODERN QUALIFIED IMMUNITY
DOCTRINE IS UNTETHERED FROM ANY
STATUTORY OR HISTORICAL
JUSTIFICATION.
A. The text of Section 1983 does not provide
for any kind of immunity.
“Statutory interpretation . . . begins with the
text . . . .” Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632, 638 (2016). Few
judicial doctrines have deviated so sharply from this
axiomatic proposition as qualified immunity. As
currently codified and in relevant part, Section 1983
provides:
Every person who, under color of any statute,
ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any
State or Territory or the District of Columbia,
subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of
the United States . . . to the deprivation of any
rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the
Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the
party injured . . . .
42 U.S.C. § 1983.2
Notably, “the statute on its face does not provide for
any immunities.” Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 342
(1986). The operative language just says that any
person acting under state authority who causes the
violation of a protected right “shall be liable to the
party injured.”
10See Br. for Pls. in Error at 23–45, Myers, 238 U.S. at 368 (Nos.
8–10).
11 Baude, supra, at 58 (citation omitted).
8
17 Available at https://github.com/washingtonpost/data-police-
shootings.
18Availableat https://www.newsweek.com/51000-people-injured-
annually-police-586524.
19 Available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEjipYKbOOU.
20 Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt4ynfRXnjg.
14
21Available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQqgVlk0NQ.
22See Police Misconduct Registry, UNIV. OF S. CAL. PRICE SCH. OF
BUS. SAFE COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE, (last updated Apr. 5, 2023)
https://sci.usc.edu/police-misconduct-registry/; John Kelly &
Mark Nichols, Tarnished Brass: Search the List of More than
30,000 Police Officers Banned by 44 States., USA TODAY (last
updated June 27, 2022), https://www.usatoday.com/in-
depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/
biggest-collection-police-accountability-records-ever-assembled/
2299127002/; Derek Willis et al., The NYPD Files, PROPUBLICA,
(July 26, 2020), https://projects.propublica.org/nypd-ccrb/.
23 Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/us/gallup-
poll-police.html.
15
28 Available at https://nyti.ms/2z0kbZl.
17
29 Available at https://perma.cc/XYQ8-7TB4.
18
30 Available at https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-
library/abstracts/
promoting-cooperative-strategies-reduce-racial-profiling.
31 Available at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-anti-cop-
attitudes-resisting-police.
19
32Available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/
2014/08/19/im-a-cop-if-you-dont-want-to-get-hurt-dont-
challenge-me/.
33 Available at https://news.gallup.com/poll/394103/confidence-
supreme-court-sinks-historic-low.aspx.
20
34 Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/
interactive/2022/police-misconduct-insurance-settlements-
reform/.
23