Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-147_g31h.pdf
Page Number: 34.0

10 

EGBERT v. BOULE 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting
Opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J. 

At bottom, Boule’s claim is materially indistinguishable 
from the claim brought in Bivens.  His case therefore does 
not  present  a  new  context  for  the  purposes  of  assessing
whether a Bivens remedy is available. 

2 

Even assuming that this case presents a new context, no 

special factors warrant foreclosing a Bivens action. 

The  Court  “has  not  defined  the  phrase  ‘special  factors
counselling hesitation,’ ” but it has recognized that the “in-
quiry  must  concentrate  on  whether  the  Judiciary  is  well
suited,  absent  congressional  action  or  instruction,  to  con-
sider and weigh the costs and benefits of allowing a dam-
ages action to proceed.”  Ziglar, 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., 
at 12); see also Hernández, 589 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 
7–8).  For example, where a claim “would call into question 
the formulation and implementation of a general policy” or 
“require courts to interfere in an intrusive way with sensi-
tive  functions  of  the  Executive  Branch,”  recognizing  a 
Bivens action may be inappropriate.  Ziglar, 582 U. S., at 
___–___ (slip op., at 17–18); see also, e.g., Chappell v. Wal-
lace, 462 U. S. 296, 300 (1983) (declining to extend Bivens 
where military personnel sought damages from superior of-
ficers,  citing  concerns  about  “tamper[ing]  with  the  estab-
lished relationship between enlisted military personnel and 
their superior officers,” which lies “at the heart of the nec-
essarily unique structure of the Military Establishment”). 
Precedent thus establishes that “separation-of-powers prin-
ciples . . . should be central to the [special-factors] analysis.” 
Ziglar, 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12). 

Here, the only possible special factor is that Boule’s prop-
erty abuts an international border.  Boule’s case, however, 
is a far cry from others in which the Court declined to ex-
tend Bivens for reasons of national security or foreign rela-
tions.  In  Hernández,  for  example,  a  CBP  agent  shot  and
killed a Mexican child across the U. S.-Mexico border.  589