Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/04pdf/04-278.pdf
Page Number: 4.0

Cite as:  545 U. S. ____ (2005) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order 
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 04–278 
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TOWN OF CASTLE ROCK, COLORADO, PETITIONER 
v. JESSICA GONZALES, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS NEXT 
BEST FRIEND OF HER DECEASED MINOR CHILDREN, 
REBECCA GONZALES, KATHERYN 
GONZALES, AND LESLIE 
GONZALES 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

[June 27, 2005] 

JUSTICE SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court. 
We  decide  in  this  case  whether  an  individual  who  has 
obtained  a  state-law  restraining  order  has  a  constitution-
ally  protected  property  interest  in  having  the  police  en-
force the restraining order when they have probable cause 
to believe it has been violated. 

I 
The horrible facts of this case are contained in the com-
plaint  that  respondent  Jessica  Gonzales  filed  in  Federal
District  Court.    (Because  the  case  comes  to  us  on  appeal 
from  a  dismissal  of  the  complaint,  we  assume  its  allega-
tions are true.  See Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A., 534 U. S. 
506, 508, n. 1 (2002).)  Respondent  alleges  that  petitioner, 
the town of Castle Rock, Colorado, violated the Due Proc-
ess  Clause  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  United 
States  Constitution  when  its  police  officers,  acting  pursu-
ant  to  official  policy  or  custom,  failed  to  respond  properly