Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/04pdf/04-278.pdf
Page Number: 3

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

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Syllabus 

new  species  of  government  benefit  or  service,  but  out  of  a  function 
that  government  actors  have  always  performed—arresting  people 
when they have probable cause.  A benefit’s indirect nature was fatal 
to a due process claim in O’Bannon v. Town Court Nursing Center, 447 
U. S. 773, 787.  Here, as there, “[t]he simple distinction between gov-
ernment action that directly affects a citizen’s legal rights . . . and ac-
tion that is directed against a third party and affects the citizen only 
. . .  incidentally,  provides  a  sufficient  answer  to”  cases  finding  gov-
ernment-provided services to be entitlements.  Id., at 788.  Pp. 17–19. 

366 F. 3d 1093, reversed. 

SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, 
C. J.,  and  O’CONNOR,  KENNEDY,  SOUTER,  THOMAS,  and  BREYER,  JJ., 
joined.    SOUTER,  J.,  filed  a  concurring  opinion,  in  which  BREYER,  J., 
joined.  STEVENS, J., filed a  dissenting opinion, in which GINSBURG, J., 
joined.