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Timestamp: 2019-10-23 20:39:04
Document Index: 693932096

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

TOWER V. GLOVER, 467 U. S. 914 (1984) - US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE
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2. State public defenders are not immune from liability under § 1983 for intentional misconduct by virtue of alleged conspiratorial action with state officials that deprives their clients of federal rights. For purposes of § 1983, immunities are predicated upon a considered inquiry into the immunity historically accorded the relevant official at common law and the interests behind it. No immunity for public defenders, as such, existed at common law in 1871, when § 1983's predecessor was enacted, because there was no such office in existence at that time. Although a chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
O'CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J.,and WHITE, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined, and in all but the first paragraph of Part IV of which BRENNAN, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, and STEVENS, JJ., joined, post, p. 467 U. S. 924. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Glover was arrested on February 1, 1976, in Del Norte County, Cal. Pet. for Cert. in Glover v. Dolan, O.T. 1978, No. 78-5457, p. 3. The State of California extradited Glover to Benton County, Ore., on December 6, 1976. [Footnote 1] Upon arriving in Oregon, Glover immediately filed for habeas corpus relief in Federal District Court, seeking, apparently, a stay of chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Meanwhile, on December 6, 1977, the Federal Magistrate to whom Glover's habeas petition had been referred recommended that it be dismissed. On March 6, 1978, the District Court dismissed the habeas petition on the ground that Glover had failed to exhaust state remedies. Glover v. Dolan, No. 77-276 (Dist.Ct.Ore.). Glover gave notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but the District Court refused to issue a certificate of probable cause. The Court of Appeals dismissed Glover's application for a certificate of probable cause on July 12, 1978, agreeing with the District Court that Glover had failed to exhaust state remedies. Glover v. Dolan, No. 78-8077 (CA9). In a petition for a writ of certiorari filed with this Court, Glover chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
On February 23, 1983, the consolidated state court petitions came to trial before the Marion County Circuit Court. The state court found that there had been no conspiracy to chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides that "[e]very person" who acts "under color of " state law to deprive another of constitutional rights shall be liable in a suit for damages. Petitioners concede, and the Court of Appeals agreed, that Glover's conspiracy allegations "cast the color of state law over [petitioners'] actions." Brief for Petitioners 14; see 700 F.2d 558, n. 1. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Imbler v. Pachtman, supra, at 424 U. S. 421; Pulliam v. Allen, supra, at 466 U. S. 529. If an official was accorded immunity from tort actions at common law when the Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1871, the Court next considers whether § 1983's history or purposes nonetheless counsel against recognizing the same immunity in § 1983 actions. See Imbler v. Pachtman, chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
In this country the public defender's only 19th-century counterpart was a privately retained lawyer, and petitioners do not suggest that such a lawyer would have enjoyed immunity from tort liability for intentional misconduct. Cf. Baker v. Humphrey, 101 U. S. 494 (1880); Von Wallhoffen v. Newcombe, 10 Hun. 236 (N.Y.Sup.Ct. 1877); Hoopes chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Petitioners' concerns may be well founded, but the remedy petitioners urge is not for us to adopt. We do not have a chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
As we have already described supra, at 467 U. S. 916-919, Glover has already had more than one day in court. Indeed, those not familiar with the delicate intricacies of § 1983 jurisdiction might characterize Glover's successful initiation and prosecution of entirely parallel and duplicative state and federal actions as a great waste of judicial resources. But it appears that by now, at least, Glover has exhausted or defaulted on state court opportunities to have his conviction set aside on the basis of the alleged conspiracy among his lawyers and state officials. We therefore have no occasion to decide if a Federal District Court should abstain from deciding a § 1983 suit for damages stemming from an unlawful conviction pending the collateral exhaustion of state court attacks on the conviction itself. [Footnote 6] Cf. Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37 (1971) (federal court may not enjoin ongoing criminal proceeding); Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 475 (1973) (§ 1983 action for injunctive relief may not be used to bypass exhaustion requirements of federal habeas corpus action); Juidice v. Vail, 430 U. S. 327, 430 U. S. 339, n. 16 (1977) (this Court has had no occasion to determine whether a § 1983 damages action may engage Younger principles); @ 457 U. S. 518-519 (1982) (WHITE, J., concurring in part) ("[A] defendant in a civil or administrative enforcement proceeding may not enjoin and sidetrack that proceeding by resorting to a § 1983 action in federal court").