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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983']

Paul Vs Davis - Citation 104040 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Paul Vs. Davis - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/104040
Case Number 424 U.S. 693
paul v. davis - 424 u.s. 693 (1976) u.s. supreme court paul v. davis, 424 u.s. 693 (1976) paul v. davis no. 74-891 argued november 4, 1975 decided march 23, 1976 424 u.s. 693 certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit syllabus a photograph of respondent bearing his name was included in a "flyer" of "active shoplifters," after he had been arrested on a shoplifting charge in louisville, ky. after that charge had been dismissed, respondent brought this action under 42 u.s.c. § 1983 against petitioner police chiefs, who had distributed the flyer to area merchants, alleging that petitioners' action under color of law deprived him of his constitutional rights. the district court granted.....
Paul v. Davis - 424 U.S. 693 (1976)
U.S. Supreme Court Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693 (1976)
A photograph of respondent bearing his name was included in a "flyer" of "active shoplifters," after he had been arrested on a shoplifting charge in Louisville, Ky. After that charge had been dismissed, respondent brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against petitioner police chiefs, who had distributed the flyer to area merchants, alleging that petitioners' action under color of law deprived him of his constitutional rights. The District Court granted petitioners' motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals reversed, relying on Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U. S. 433 . Held:
1. Petitioners' action in distributing the flyer did not deprive respondent of any "liberty" or "property" rights secured against state deprivation by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 424 U. S. 699 -710.
(a) The Due Process Clause does not ex proprio vigore extend to a person a right to be free of injury wherever the State may be characterized as the tortfeasor. Pp. 424 U. S. 699 -701.
(b) Reputation alone, apart from some more tangible interests such as employment, does not implicate any "liberty" or "property" interests sufficient to invoke the procedural protection of the Due Process Clause; hence, to establish a claim under § 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment, more must be involved than simply defamation by a state official. Wisconsin v. Constantineau, supra, distinguished. Pp. 424 U. S. 701 -710.
(c) Kentucky law does not extend to respondent any legal guarantee of present enjoyment of reputation that has been altered by petitioners' actions, and the interest in reputation alone is thus quite different from the "liberty" or "property" recognized in such decisions as Bell v. Burson, 402 U. S. 535 , and Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U. S. 471 , where the guarantee of due process required certain procedural safeguards before the State could alter the status of the complainants. Pp. 424 U. S. 710 -712.
merit, being based not upon any challenge to the State's ability to restrict his freedom of action in a sphere contended to be "private," but on a claim that the State may not publicize a record of an official act like an arrest. Pp. 424 U. S. 712 -713.
REHNQUIST, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and STEWART, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which MARSHALL, J., joined, and in which WHITE, J., joined in part, post, p. 424 U. S. 714 . STEVENS, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
him of a right secured by the Constitution [ Footnote 1 ] of the United States, and that any such deprivation was achieved under color of law. [ Footnote 2 ] Adickes v. Kress & Co., 398 U. S. 144 , 398 U. S. 150 (1970). The Court of Appeals concluded that respondent had set forth a § 1983 claim "in that he has alleged facts that constitute a denial of due process of law." 505 F.2d 1180, 1182 (1974). In its view, our decision in Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U. S. 433 (1971), mandated reversal of the District Court.
Id. at 384 U. S. 832 . We, too, pause to consider the result should respondent's interpretation of § 1983 and of the Fourteenth Amendment be accepted.
325 U.S. at 325 U. S. 108 -109.
Id. at 325 U. S. 109 .
This understanding of the limited effect of the Fourteenth Amendment was not lost in the Court's decision in Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167 (1961). There, the Court was careful to point out that the complaint stated a cause of action under the Fourteenth Amendment because it alleged an unreasonable search and seizure violative of the guarantee "contained in the Fourth Amendment [and] made applicable to the States by reason of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." Id. at 365 U. S. 171 . Respondent, however, has pointed to no specific constitutional guarantee safeguarding the interest he asserts has been invaded.
Rather, he apparently believes that the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause should ex proprio vigore extend to him a right to be free of injury wherever the State may be characterized as the tortfeasor. But such a reading would make of the Fourteenth Amendment a font of tort law to be superimposed upon whatever systems may already be administered by the States. We have noted the "constitutional shoals" that confront any attempt to derive from congressional civil rights statutes a body of general federal tort law, Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U. S. 88 , 403 U. S. 101 -102 (1971); a fortiori, the procedural guarantees of the Due Process Clause cannot be the source for such law.
decision, however, must be derived from an examination of the precedents upon which it relied, as well as consideration of the other decisions by this Court, before and after Constantineau, which bear upon the relationship between governmental defamation and the guarantees of the Constitution. While not uniform in their treatment of the subject, we think that the weight of our decisions establishes no constitutional doctrine converting every defamation by a public official into a deprivation of liberty within the meaning of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth [ Footnote 3 ] or Fourteenth Amendment.
In United States v. Lovett, 328 U. S. 303 (1946), the Court held that an Act of Congress which specifically forbade payment of any salary or compensation to three named Government agency employees was an unconstitutional bill of attainder. The three employees had been proscribed because a House of Representatives subcommittee found them guilty of "subversive activity," and therefore unfit for Government service. The Court, while recognizing that the underlying charges upon which Congress' action was premised "stigmatized [the employees'] reputation and seriously impaired their chance to earn a living," id. at 328 U. S. 314 , also made it clear that "[w]hat is involved here is a congressional proscription of [these employees], prohibiting their ever holding a government job." Ibid.
Id. at 341 U. S. 164 . Mr. Justice Douglas, who likewise concluded that petitioners had stated a claim, observed in his separate opinion:
Id. at 341 U. S. 175 .
Id. at 341 U. S. 183 -184.
Id. at 341 U. S. 184 -185.
Id. at 341 U. S. 202 .
In Wieman v. Updegraff, 344 U. S. 183 (1952), the Court again recognized the potential "badge of infamy" which might arise from being branded disloyal by the government. Id. at 344 U. S. 191 . But it did not hold this sufficient by itself to invoke the procedural due process guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment; indeed, the Court expressly refused to pass upon the procedural due process claims of petitioners in that case. Id. at 344 U. S. 192 . The Court noted that petitioners would, as a result of their failure to execute the state loyalty oath, lose their teaching positions at a state university. It held such state action to be arbitrary because of its failure to distinguish between innocent and knowing membership in the associations named in the list prepared by the Attorney General of the United States. Id. at 344 U. S. 191 . See also Peters v. Hobby, 349 U. S. 331 , 349 U. S. 347 (1955).
Wieman v. Updegraff, 344 U. S. 183 , 344 U. S. 190 -191; Joint Anti-Fascist Comm. v. McGrath, 341 U. S. 123 , 341 U. S. 140 -141. . . ."
Id. at 367 U. S. 898 . (Emphasis supplied.)
Two things appear from the line of cases beginning with Lovett. The Court has recognized the serious damage that could be inflicted by branding a government employee as "disloyal," and thereby stigmatizing his good name. But the Court has never held that the mere defamation of an individual, whether by branding him disloyal or otherwise, was sufficient to invoke the guarantees of procedural due process absent an accompanying loss of government employment. [ Footnote 4 ]
Wieman v. Updegraff, 344 U. S. 183 , 344 U. S. 191 ."
Anti=Fascist Committee v. McGrath, 341 U. S. 123 , 341 U. S. 168 (Frankfurter, J., concurring).
This conclusion is reinforced by our discussion of the subject a little over a year later in Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564 (1972). There, we noted that "the range of interests protected by procedural due process is not infinite," id. at 408 U. S. 570 , and that, with respect to property interests, they are,
Id. at 408 U. S. 577 . While Roth recognized that governmental action defaming an individual in the course of declining to rehire him could entitle the person to notice and an opportunity to be heard as to the defamation, its language is quite inconsistent with any notion that a defamation perpetrated by a government official but unconnected with any refusal to rehire would be actionable under the Fourteenth Amendment:
This conclusion is quite consistent with our most recent holding in this area, Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565 (1975), that suspension from school based upon charges of misconduct could trigger the procedural guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment. While the Court noted that charges of misconduct could seriously damage the student's reputation, id. at 419 U. S. 574 -575, it also took care to point out that Ohio law conferred a right upon all children to attend school, and that the act of the school officials suspending the student there involved resulted in a denial or deprivation of that right.
It is apparent from our decisions that there exists a variety of interests which are difficult of definition, but are nevertheless comprehended within the meaning of either "liberty" or "property" as meant in the Due Process Clause. These interests attain this constitutional status by virtue of the fact that they have been initially recognized and protected by state law. [ Footnote 5 ] and we
more specific constitutional guarantees, and thereby impose limits upon government power. See Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 , 410 U. S. 152 -153 (1973). Respondent's case, however, comes within none of these areas. He does not seek to suppress evidence seized in the course of an unreasonable search. See Katz v. United States, 389 U. S. 347 , 389 U. S. 351 (1967); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 , 392 U. S. 8 -9 (1968). And our other "right of privacy" cases, while defying categorical description, deal generally with substantive aspects of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Roe, the Court pointed out that the personal rights found in this guarantee of personal privacy must be limited to those which are "fundamental" or "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty" as described in Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U. S. 319 , 302 U. S. 325 (1937). The activities detailed as being within this definition were ones very different from that for which respondent claims constitutional protection -- matters relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, and childrearing and education. In these areas, it has been held that there are limitations on the States' power to substantively regulate conduct.
We cannot agree with the suggestion of our Brother BRENNAN, dissenting, post: at 424 U. S. 727 , that the actions of these two petitioner law enforcement officers come within the language used by Mr. Justice Harlan in his dissenting opinion in Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U. S. 411 , 395 U. S. 433 (1969). They are not by any conceivable stretch of the imagination, either separately or together,
Id. at 395 U. S. 438 . Indeed, the actions taken by these petitioners in this case fall far short of the more formalized proceedings of the Commission on Civil Rights established by Congress in 1957, the procedures of which were upheld against constitutional challenge by this Court in Hannah v. Larche, 363 U. S. 420 (1960). There, the Court described the functions of the Commission in this language:
Id. at 395 U. S. 443 .
Thus, as the Court indicates, ante at 424 U. S. 696 -697, respondent's complaint, to be cognizable under § 1983, must allege both a deprivation of a constitutional right [ Footnote 2/1 ] and the effectuation of that deprivation under color of law. See, e.g., Adickes v. Kress & Co., 398 U. S. 144 , 398 U. S. 150 (1970). But the implication, see ante at 424 U. S. 697 -699, that the existence vel non of a state remedy -- for example, a cause of action for defamation -- is relevant to the determination whether there is a cause of action under § 1983, is wholly unfounded.
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167 , 365 U. S. 183 (1961). See also, e.g., McNeese v. Board of Education, 373 U. S. 668 , 373 U. S. 671 -672 (1963). Indeed, even if the Court were creating a novel doctrine that state law is in any way relevant, it would be incumbent upon the Court to inquire whether respondent has an adequate remedy under Kentucky law or whether petitioners would be immunized by state doctrines of official or sovereign immunity. The Court, however, undertakes no such inquiry.
Ante at 424 U. S. 698 . The action complained of here is "state
action" allegedly in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that Amendment, which is only designed to prohibit "state" action, clearly renders unconstitutional actions taken by state officials that would merely be criminal or tortious if engaged in by those acting in their private capacities. Of course, if a private citizen enters the home of another, manacles and threatens the owner, and searches the house in the course of a robbery, he would be criminally and civilly liable under state law, but no constitutional rights of the owner would be implicated. However, if state police officials engage in the same acts in the course of a narcotics investigation, the owner may maintain a damages action against the police under § 1983 for deprivation of constitutional rights "under color of" state law. Cf. Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, 403 U. S. 388 , 403 U. S. 390 -392 (1971). See also, e.g., Monroe v. Pape, supra. In short, it is difficult to believe that the Court seriously suggests, see ante at 424 U. S. 697 -698, that there is some anomaly in the distinction, for constitutional purposes, between tortious conduct committed by a private citizen and the same conduct committed by state officials under color of state law.
It may be that I misunderstand the thrust of 424 U. S. Perhaps the Court is not questioning the involvement of a constitutional "liberty" or "property" interest in this case, but rather whether the deprivation of those interests was accomplished "under color of" state law. The Court's expressed concern that, but for today's decision, negligent tortious behavior by state officials might constitute a § 1983 violation, see ante at 424 U. S. 698 , suggests this reading. [ Footnote 2/2 ] But that concern is
groundless. An official's actions are not "under color of" law merely because he is an official; an off-duty policeman's discipline of his own children, for example, would not constitute conduct "under color of" law. The essential element of this type of § 1983 action [ Footnote 2/3 ] is abuse of his official position.
"Congress, in enacting [§ 1983], meant to give a remedy to parties deprived of constitutional rights, privileges and immunities by an official's abuse of his position. "
"[m]isuse of power, possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law. "
United States v. Classic, 313 U. S. 299 , 313 U. S. 326 (1941) (emphasis supplied). Moreover, whether or not mere negligent official conduct in the course of duty can ever constitute such abuse of power, the police officials here concede that their conduct was intentional, and was undertaken in their official capacities. Therefore, beyond peradventure, it is action taken under color of law, see ante at 424 U. S. 697 , and n. 2, and it is disingenuous for the Court to argue, see ante at 424 U. S. 700 -701, that respondent is seeking to convert § 1983 into a generalized font of tort law. The only issue properly presented by this case is whether petitioners' intentional conduct infringed any of respondent's "liberty" or "property" interests without due process of law, and that is the question to be addressed. I am
persuaded that respondent has alleged a case of such infringement, and therefore of a violation of § 1983. The stark fact is that the police here have officially imposed on respondent the stigmatizing label "criminal" without the salutary and constitutionally mandated safeguards of a criminal trial. The Court concedes that this action will have deleterious consequences for respondent. For 15 years, the police had prepared and circulated similar lists, not with respect to shoplifting alone, but also for other offenses. App. 19, 27-28. Included in the five-page list in which respondent's name and "mug shot" appeared were numerous individuals who, like respondent, were never convicted of any criminal activity and whose only "offense" was having once been arrested. [ Footnote 2/4 ]
Indeed, respondent was arrested over 17 months before the flyer was distributed, [ Footnote 2/5 ] not by state law enforcement authorities, but by a store's private security police, and nothing in the record appears to suggest the existence at that time of even constitutionally sufficient probable cause for that single arrest on a shoplifting charge. [ Footnote 2/6 ] Nevertheless, petitioners had 1,000 flyers printed (800 were distributed widely throughout the Louisville business community) proclaiming that the individuals identified
by name and picture were "subjects known to be active in this criminal field [shoplifting]," and trumpeting the "fact" that each page depicted "Active Shoplifters" (emphasis supplied). [ Footnote 2/7 ]
Although accepting the truth of the allegation, as we must on the motion to dismiss, see, e.g., Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp., 382 U. S. 172 , 382 U. S. 174 -175 (1965); cf. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U. S. 41 (1957), that dissemination of this flyer would "seriously impair [respondent's] future employment opportunities" and "inhibit him from entering business establishments for fear of being suspected of shoplifting and possibly apprehended," ante at 424 U. S. 697 , the Court characterizes the allegation as "mere defamation," involving no infringement of constitutionally protected interests. E.g., ante at 424 U. S. 706 . This is because, the Court holds, neither a "liberty" nor a "property" interest was invaded by the injury done respondent's reputation, and therefore no violation of § 1983 or the Fourteenth Amendment was alleged. I wholly disagree.
It is important, to paraphrase the Court, that "[w]e, too, [should] pause to consider the result should [the Court's] interpretation of § 1983 and of the Fourteenth Amendment be accepted." Ante at 424 U. S. 698 . There is no attempt by the Court to analyze the question as one of reconciliation of constitutionally protected personal rights and the exigencies of law enforcement. No effort is made to distinguish the "defamation" that occurs when a grand jury indicts an accused from the "defamation" that occurs when executive officials arbitrarily and without
trial declare a person an "active criminal." [ Footnote 2/8 ] Rather, the Court, by mere fiat and with no analysis, wholly excludes personal interest in reputation from the ambit of "life, liberty, or property" under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, thus rendering due process concerns never applicable to the official stigmatization, however arbitrary, of an individual. The logical and disturbing corollary of this holding is that no due process infirmities would inhere in a statute constituting a commission to conduct ex parte trials of individuals, so long as the only official judgment pronounced was limited to the public condemnation and branding of a person as a Communist, a traitor, an "active murderer," a homosexual, or any other mark that "merely" carries social opprobrium. The potential of today's decision is frightening for a free people. [ Footnote 2/9 ] That decision surely finds no support in our relevant constitutional jurisprudence.
Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564 , 408 U. S. 572 (1972).
Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390 , 262 U. S. 399 (1923). [ Footnote 2/10 ] Certainly the enjoyment of
" Rosenblatt v. Baer, 383 U. S. 75 , 383 U. S. 92 (1966) (concurring opinion)."
Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U. S. 323 , 418 U. S. 341 (1974). [ Footnote 2/11 ]
"'[w]here a person's good name, reputation, honor, or integrity is at stake because of what the government is doing to him, notice and an opportunity to be heard are essential.' Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U. S. 433 , 400 U. S. 437 . Wieman v. Updegraff, 344 U. S. 183 , 344 U. S. 191 ; Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath, 341 U. S. 123 ; United States v. Lovett, 328 U. S. 303 , 328 U. S. 316 -317; Peters v. Hobby, 349 U. S. 331 , 349 U. S. 352 (DOUGLAS, J., concurring). See Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U. S. 886 , 367 U. S. 898 ."
Board of Regents v. Roth, supra, at 408 U. S. 573 . See also, e.g., Greene v. McElroy, 360 U. S. 474 , 360 U. S. 496 (1959); Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U. S. 886 , 367 U. S. 899 -902 (1961) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting); Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565 , 419 U. S. 574 -575 (1975). In the criminal justice system, this interest is given concrete protection through the presumption of innocence and the prohibition of state-imposed punishment unless the State can demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt, at a public trial with the attendant constitutional safeguards, that a particular individual has engaged in proscribed criminal conduct.
In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358 , 397 U. S. 363 -364 (1970).
Id. at 397 U. S. 364 . [ Footnote 2/12 ]
Today's decision marks a clear retreat from Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U. S. 411 (1969), a case closely akin to the factual pattern of the instant case, and yet essentially ignored by the Court. Jenkins, which was also an action brought under § 1983, both recognized that the public branding of an individual implicates interests cognizable as either "liberty" or "property" and held that such public condemnation cannot be accomplished without procedural safeguards designed to eliminate arbitrary or capricious executive action. Jenkins involved the constitutionality of the Louisiana Labor-Management Commission of Inquiry, an executive agency whose "very purpose . . . is to find persons guilty of violating criminal laws without trial or procedural safeguards, and to publicize those findings." 395 U.S. at 395 U. S. 424 .
"[T]he personal and economic consequences alleged to flow from such actions are sufficient to meet the requirement that appellant prove a legally redressable injury. Those consequences would certainly be actionable if caused by a private party, and thus should be sufficient to accord appellant standing. See Greene v. McElroy, 360 U. S. 474 , 360 U. S. 493 , n. 22
(1959); Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath, supra at 341 U. S. 140 -141 (opinion of Burton, J.); id. at 341 U. S. 151 -160 (Frankfurter, J., concurring). It is no answer that the Commission has not itself tried to impose any direct sanctions on appellant; it is enough that the Commission's alleged actions will have a substantial impact on him. . . . Appellant's allegations go beyond the normal publicity attending criminal prosecution; he alleges a concerted attempt publicly to brand him a criminal without a trial."
Id. at 395 U. S. 421 -425. Significantly, we noted that one defect in the Commission was that it "exercises a function very much akin to making an official adjudication of criminal culpability," and that it was "concerned only with exposing violations of criminal laws by specific individuals." Id. at 395 U. S. 427 .
Id. at 395 U. S. 428 . See also ibid., quoting Hannah v. Larche, 363 U. S. 420 , 363 U. S. 488 (1960) (Frankfurter, J., concurring in result). Although three Justices in dissent would have dismissed the complaint for lack of standing, since there were no allegations that the appellant would be investigated, called as a witness, or named in the Commission's findings, 395 U.S. at 395 U. S. 436 (Harlan, J., dissenting), they nevertheless observed, id. at 395 U. S. 438 :
See also id. at 395 U. S. 442 . Thus, although the Court was divided on the particular procedural safeguards that would be necessary in particular circumstances, the common point of agreement, and the one that the Court today inexplicably rejects, was that the official characterization of an individual as a criminal affects a constitutional "liberty" interest.
The Court, however, relegates its discussion of Jenkins to a dissembling footnote. First, the Court ignores the fact that the Court in Jenkins clearly recognized a constitutional "liberty" or "property" interest in reputation sufficient to invoke the strictures of the Fourteenth Amendment. [ Footnote 2/13 ] It baffles me how, in the face of that holding, the Court can come to today's conclusion by reliance on the fact that the conduct in question does not "come within the language" of the dissent in Jenkins, ante at 424 U. S. 706 n. 4. Second, and more important, the Court's footnote manifests the same confusion that pervades the remainder of its opinion: it simply fails to recognize the crucial difference between the question whether there is a personal interest in one's good name and reputation that is constitutionally cognizable as a "liberty" or "property" interest within the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendment Due Process Clauses, and the totally separate question whether particular government
action with respect to that interest satisfies the mandates of due process. See, e.g., supra at 424 U. S. 720 -721, and n. 8. Although the dissenters in Jenkins thought that the Commission's procedures complied with due process, they clearly believed that there was a personal interest that had to be weighed in reaching that conclusion. [ Footnote 2/14 ] The dissenters in Jenkins, like the Court in Hannah v. Larche, supra, held the view that, in the context of a purely investigatory, factfinding agency, full trial safeguards are not required to comply with due process. But that question would never have been reached unless there were some constitutionally cognizable personal interest making the inquiry necessary -- the interest in reputation that is affected
Ante at 424 U. S. 706 n. 4, quoting 395 U.S. at 395 U. S. 438 . Surely the difference cannot be found in the fact that police officials, rather than a statutory "agency," engaged in the stigmatizing conduct, for both situations involve the requisite action "under color of" law. Ante at 424 U. S. 697 n. 2. Nor can the difference be found in the argument that petitioners' actions were "serving any other public interest," for that consideration only affects the outcome of the due process balance in a particular case, not whether there is a personal "liberty" interest to be weighed against the government interests supposedly justifying the State's official actions. It is remarkable that the Court, which is so determined to parse the language of other cases, see generally ante, 424 U. S. can be thus oblivious to the fact that every Member of the Court so recently felt that the intentional, public exposure of alleged wrongdoing -- like the branding of an individual as an "active shoplifter" -- implicates a constitutionally protected "liberty" or "property" interest and requires analysis as to whether procedures adequate to satisfy due process were accorded the accused by the State.
Court today as controlling -- namely, upon the fact that "posting" denied Ms. Constantineau the right to purchase alcohol for a year, ante at 424 U. S. 708 -709. Rather, Constantineau stated:
400 U.S. at 400 U. S. 436 (emphasis supplied). In addition to the statements quoted by the Court, ante at 424 U. S. 707 -708, the Court in Constantineau continued:
400 U.S. at 400 U. S. 437 .
Ibid., quoting Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Comm. v. McGrath, 341 U. S. 123 , 341 U. S. 168 (1951) (Frankfurter,J.,concurring) (emphasis supplied). There again, the fact that government stigmatization of an individual implicates constitutionally protected interests was made plain. [ Footnote 2/15 ]
within the broad term "liberty" and clearly require that the government afford procedural protections before infringing that name and reputation by branding a person as a criminal. The Court is reduced to discrediting the clear thrust of Constantineau and Jenkins by excluding the interest in reputation from all constitutional protection "if there is any other possible interpretation" by which to deny their force as precedent according constitutional protection for the interest in reputation. [ Footnote 2/16 ] Ante at 424 U. S. 708 . The Court's approach -- oblivious both to Mr. Chief Justice Marshall's admonition that "we must never forget, that it is a constitution we are expounding," M'Culloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 17 U. S. 407 (1819), and to the teaching of cases such as Roth and Meyer, which were attentive to the necessary breadth of constitutional "liberty" and "property" interests, see nn. 10, 15, supra -- is to water down our prior precedents by reinterpreting
them as confined to injury to reputation that affects an individual's employment prospects or, as "a right or status previously recognized by state law [that the State] distinctly altered or extinguished." Ante at 424 U. S. 711 . See also, e.g., ante at 424 U. S. 701 , 424 U. S. 704 -706, 424 U. S. 709 -710, 424 U. S. 710 -712. The obvious answer is that such references in those cases (when there even were such references) concerned the particular fact situations presented, and in nowise implied any limitation upon the application of the principles announced. E.g., ante at 424 U. S. 709 -710, quoting Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. at 408 U. S. 573 . See n. 15, supra. Discussions of impact upon future employment opportunities were nothing more than recognition of the logical and natural consequences flowing from the stigma condemned. E.g., ante at 424 U. S. 705 -706, quoting Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U.S. at 367 U. S. 898 . [ Footnote 2/17 ]
Moreover, the analysis has a hollow ring in light of the Court's acceptance of the truth of the allegation that the "active shoplifter" label would "seriously impair [respondent's] future employment opportunities." Ante at 424 U. S. 697 . This is clear recognition that an official "badge of infamy" affects tangible interests of the defamed individual, and not merely an abstract interest in how people view him; for the "badge of infamy" has serious consequences in its impact on no less than the opportunities open to him to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is inexplicable how the Court can say that a person's status is "altered" when the State suspends him from school, revokes his driver's license, fires him from a job, or denies him the right to purchase a drink of alcohol, but is in no way "altered" when it officially pins upon him the brand of a criminal, particularly since the Court recognizes how deleterious will be the consequences that inevitably flow from its official act. See, e.g., ante at 424 U. S. 708 -709, 424 U. S. 711 -712. Our precedents clearly mandate that a person's interest in his good name and reputation is cognizable as a "liberty" interest within the meaning of the Due Process Clause, and the Court has simply failed to distinguish those precedents in any rational manner in holding that no invasion of a "liberty" interest was effected in the official stigmatizing of respondent as a criminal without any "process" whatsoever.
securing in our free society the legitimate expectations of every person to innate human dignity and sense of worth. It is a regrettable abdication of that role and a saddening denigration of our majestic Bill of Rights when the Court tolerates arbitrary and capricious official conduct branding an individual as a criminal without compliance with constitutional procedures designed to ensure the fair and impartial ascertainment of criminal culpability. Today's decision must surely be a short-lived aberration. [ Footnote 2/18 ]
Indeed, it would be difficult to interpret that discussion as anything but a discussion of the "under color of" law requirement of § 1983, which is not involved in this case and which has no relationship to the question whether a "liberty" or "property" interest is involved here. There is simply no way in which the Court, despite today's treatment of the terms "liberty" and "property," could declare that the loss of a person's life is not an interest cognizable within the "life" portion of the Due Process Clause. See ante at 424 U. S. 698 -699.
Of course, in addition to providing a remedy when an official abuses his position, § 1983 is designed to provide a remedy when a state statute itself abridges constitutional rights, when a remedy under state law is inadequate to protect constitutional rights, and when a state remedy, though adequate in theory, is unavailable in practice. See, e.g., Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167 , 365 U. S. 173 -174 (1961).
Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U. S. 232 , 353 U. S. 241 (1957). The constitutional presumption of innocence, the requirement that conviction for a crime must be based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the other safeguards of a criminal trial are obviously designed, at least in part, to give concrete meaning to this fact.
Indeed, the Court's opinion confuses the two separate questions of whether reputation is a "liberty" or "property" interest and whether, in a particular context, state action with respect to that interest is a violation of due process. E.g., ante at 424 U. S. 698 -699, 424 U. S. 701 -702, and n. 3 (assuming that, if reputation is a cognizable liberty or property interest, every defamation by a public official would be an offense against the Due Process Clause of the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendment).
One of the more questionable assertions made by the Court suggests that "liberty" or "property" interests are protected only if they are recognized under state law or protected by one of the specific guarantees of the Bill of Rights. Ante at 424 U. S. 710 , and n. 5. To be sure, the Court has held that
Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564 , 408 U. S. 577 (1972) (emphasis supplied). See also, e.g., Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565 , 419 U. S. 572 -573 (1975). However, it should also be clear that, if the Federal Government, for example, creates an entitlement to some benefit, the States cannot infringe a person's enjoyment of that "property" interest without compliance with the dictates of due process. Moreover, we have never restricted "liberty" interests in the manner the Court today attempts to do. The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, like the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, protects "liberty" interests. But the content of "liberty" in those Clauses has never been thought to depend on recognition of an interest by the State or Federal Government, and has never been restricted to interests explicitly recognized by other provisions of the Bill of Rights:
"'While this Court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty . . . guaranteed [by the Fourteenth Amendment], the term has received much consideration, and some of the included things have been definitely stated. Without doubt, it denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint, but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized . . . as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.' Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390 , 262 U. S. 399 ."
Board of Regents v. Roth, supra at 408 U. S. 572 . See also, e.g., Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U. S. 134 , 416 U. S. 157 (1974) (opinion of REHNQUIST, J.). It should thus be clear that much of the content of "liberty" has no tie whatsoever to particular provisions of the Bill of Rights, and the Court today gives no explanation for its narrowing of that content.
It is strange that the Court should hold that the interest in one's good name and reputation is not embraced within the concept of "liberty" or "property" under the Fourteenth Amendment, and yet hold that that same interest, when recognized under state law, is sufficient to overcome the specific protections of the First Amendment. See, e.g., Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.; Time, Inc. v. Firestone, ante, p. 424 U. S. 448 .
The Court's insensitivity to these constitutional dictates is particularly evident when it declares that, because respondent had never been brought to trial, "his guilt or innocence of that offense [shoplifting] had never been resolved." Ante at 424 U. S. 696 . It is hard to conceive of a more devastating flouting of the presumption of innocence, "that bedrock axiomatic and elementary' principle whose `enforcement lies at the foundation of the administration of our criminal law.'" In re Winship, 397 U.S. at 397 U. S. 363 , quoting Coffin v. United States, 156 U. S. 432 , 156 U. S. 453 (1895). Moreover, even if a person was once convicted of a crime, that does not mean that he is "actively engaged" in that activity now.
Of course, such oversights are typical of today's opinion. Compare, e.g., the discussions of Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565 (1975), ante at 424 U. S. 710 , and n. 15, infra; the discussions of Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U. S. 433 (1971), ante at 424 U. S. 707 -709, and infra at 424 U. S. 729 -730.
395 U.S. at 395 U. S. 439 .
Id. at 395 U. S. 442 .
Even more recently, in Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565 (1975), we recognized that students may not be suspended from school without being accorded due process safeguards. We explicitly referred to "the liberty interest in reputation" implicated by such suspensions, id. at 419 U. S. 576 , based upon the fact that suspension for certain actions would stigmatize the student, id. at 419 U. S. 574 -575:
"The Due Process Clause also forbids arbitrary deprivations of liberty. 'Where a person's good name, reputation, honor, or integrity is at stake because of what the government is doing to him,' the minimal requirements of the Clause must be satisfied. Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U. S. 433 , 400 U. S. 437 (1971); Board of Regents v. Roth, supra at 408 U. S. 573 . School authorities here suspended appellees from school for periods of up to 10 days based on charges of misconduct. If sustained and recorded, those charges could seriously damage the students' standing with their fellow pupils and their teachers, as well as interfere with later opportunities for higher education and employment. It is apparent that the claimed right of the State to determine unilaterally and without process whether that misconduct has occurred immediately collides with the requirements of the Constitution."
Ante at 424 U. S. 710 . However, that was only one-half of the holding in Goss. The Ohio law established a property interest of which the Court held a student would not be deprived without being accorded due process. 419 U.S. at 419 U. S. 573 -574. However, the Court also specifically recognized that there was an independent liberty interest implicated in the case, not dependent upon the statutory right to attend school, but based, as noted above, on the fact that suspension for certain conduct could affect a student's "good name, reputation, honor, or integrity." Id. at 419 U. S. 574 -575.
ante at 424 U. S. 709 , borders on the absurd. The Court in Roth, like the Court in Goss, explicitly quoted the language from Constantineau that the Court today denigrates, ante at 424 U. S. 707 -709, and it was clear that Roth was focusing on stigmatization as such. We said there that, when due process safeguards are required in such situations, the "purpose of such notice and hearing is to provide the person an opportunity to clear his name, " 408 U.S. at 408 U. S. 573 n. 12 (emphasis supplied), and only found no requirement for due process safeguards because, "[i]n the present case . . . , there is no suggestion whatever that the respondent's good name, reputation, honor, or integrity' is at stake." Id. at 408 U. S. 573 . See also Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. at 416 U. S. 157 (opinion of REHNQUIST, J.) ("[L]iberty is not offended by dismissal from employment itself, but instead by dismissal based upon an unsupported charge which could wrongfully injure the reputation of an employee. . . . [T]he purpose of the hearing in such a case is to provide the person `an opportunity to clear his name' . . ."). The fact that a stigma is imposed by the government in terminating the employment of a government employee may make the existence of state action unquestionable, but it surely does not detract from the fact that the operative "liberty" concept relates to the official stigmatization of the individual, whether imposed by the government in its status as an employer or otherwise.
Similar insensitivity is exhibited by the Court when it declares that respondent "has pointed to no specific constitutional guarantee safeguarding the interest he asserts has been invaded." Ante at 424 U. S. 700 . The gravamen of respondent's complaint is that he has been stigmatized as a criminal without any of the constitutional protections designed to prevent an erroneous determination of criminal culpability.
"The harm is all the more apparent because the branding has been done by law enforcement officials with the full power, prestige and authority of their positions. There can be little doubt that a person's standing and associations in the community have been damaged seriously when law enforcement officials brand him an active shoplifter, accuse him of a continuing course of criminal conduct, group him with criminals, and distribute his name and photograph to the merchants and businessmen of the community. Such acts are a direct and devastating attack on the good name, reputation, honor and integrity of the person involved. The fact of an arrest, without more, may impair or cloud a person's reputation. Michelson v. United States, 335 U. S. 469 , 335 U. S. 482 . . . (1948). Such acts on the part of law enforcement officials may result in direct economic loss and restricted opportunities for schooling, employment and professional licenses. Menard v. Mitchell, 139 U.S.App.D.C. 113, 430 F.2d 486, 490 (1970)."
In light of my conviction that the State may not condemn an individual as a criminal without following the mandates of the trial process, I need not address the question whether there is an independent right of privacy which would yield the same result. Indeed, privacy notions appear to be inextricably interwoven with the considerations which require that a State not single an individual out for punishment outside the judicial process. Essentially, the core concept would be that a State cannot broadcast even such factual events as the occurrence of an arrest that does not culminate in a conviction when there are no legitimate law enforcement justifications for doing so, since the State is chargeable with the knowledge that many employers will treat an arrest the same as a conviction, and deny the individual employment or other opportunities on the basis of a fact that has no probative value with respect to actual criminal culpability. See, e.g., Michelson v. United States, 335 U. S. 469 , 335 U. S. 482 (1948); Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. at 353 U. S. 241 . A host of state and federal courts, relying on both privacy notions and the presumption of innocence, have begun to develop a line of cases holding that there are substantive limits on the power of the government to disseminate unresolved arrest records outside the law enforcement system, see, e.g., Utz v. Cullinane, 172 U.S.App.D.C. 67, 520 F.2d 467 (1975); Tarlton v. Saxbe, 165 U.S.App.D.C. 293, 507 F.2d 1116 (1974); United States v. Dooley, 364 F.Supp. 75 (ED Pa.1973); Menard v. Mitchell, 328 F.Supp. 718, 725-726 (DC 1971), rev'd on other grounds, 162 U.S.App.D.C. 284, 498 F.2d 1017 (1974); United States v. Kalish, 271 F.Supp. 968 (PR 1967); Davidson v. Dill, 180 Colo. 123, 503 P.2d 157 (1972); Eddy v. Moore, 5 Wash.App. 334, 487 P.2d 211 (1971). I fear that, after
today's decision, these nascent doctrines will never have the opportunity for full growth and analysis. Since the Court of Appeals did not address respondent's privacy claims, and since there has not been substantial briefing or oral argument on that point, the Court's pronouncements are certainly unnecessary. Of course, States that are more sensitive than is this Court to the privacy and other interests of individuals erroneously caught up in the criminal justice system are certainly free to adopt or adhere to higher standards under state law. See, e.g., Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U. S. 96 , 423 U. S. 111 , 423 U. S. 120 -121 (1975) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting).