Task: songer_initiate

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals. Your task is to identify what party initiated the appeal. For cases with cross appeals or multiple docket numbers, if the opinion does not explicitly indicate which appeal was filed first, assumes that the first litigant listed as the "appellant" or "petitioner" was the first to file the appeal. In federal habeas corpus petitions, consider the prisoner to be the plaintiff.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge RUTH B. GINSBURG.
Opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part filed by Circuit Judge WILLIAMS.
RUTH BADER GINSBURG, Circuit Judge:
These consolidated appeals arise out of independent but, in legally relevant respects, similar episodes. Each began with U.S. Park Police officers investigating a minor traffic incident, escalated into a violent (or at least physical) encounter, and culminated in an arrest. Plaintiffs in the two cases — Kenneth Martin and Shirley Stevens — subsequently filed suit in the district court, seeking damages for alleged violations of their common law and constitutional rights. The defendant federal officers asserted immunity, by reason of their official positions, from all of the plaintiffs’ claims, and moved for dismissal of the actions as to them. The district court denied their motions, and this appeal followed. We affirm in part and reverse in part. In explaining our dispositions, we grapple with unsettled aspects of the federal law governing official immunity.
I. The Episodes in Suit
The congeries of facts that prompted these lawsuits, as the district judge observed, are sharply disputed. We set the opening scene in each case, then summarize separately each side’s account of what occurred.
A. Martin v. Malhoyt, No. 86-5561
Plaintiff Kenneth W. Martin worked as a chauffeur for a limousine tour service operating in Washington, D.C. On July 17, 1984, at about 12:35 p.m., he was seated behind the wheel of a Cadillac limousine parked near the Lincoln Memorial in a zone reserved for the disabled. From this point on, the parties’ accounts diverge.
1. Martin’s account
According to Martin, a man in a United States Park Service uniform approached the limousine and asked Martin why he was parked in the disabled-only area. Martin replied that one of his passengers, a child, was having difficulty walking, whereupon the uniformed man departed. A few minutes later, a United States Park Police officer, later identified as Sergeant John P. Malhoyt, arrived at the spot. He too asked why Martin had parked in a restricted area. Martin repeated his explanation. Malhoyt said he would wait to see if Martin’s story was true. Malhoyt then returned to his police vehicle and parked it in another space reserved for disabled persons, directly to the rear of Martin’s limousine.
About ten minutes later, Martin noticed his passengers — a family of four (two young children and their parents) — descending the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He drove slowly towards them. Malhoyt immediately pursued, emergency lights flashing and siren sounding. Martin promptly stopped. Malhoyt appeared at the driver’s window of the limousine and demanded Martin’s driver’s license and vehicle registration. Martin started to get out of the car to conveniently remove from his pocket his wallet, which contained his license and the vehicle registration. Before Martin could retrieve his wallet, however, Malhoyt “brutally grabbed [Martin] around [the] waist,... threw [him] back into [the] driver[’s] seat,” and slammed the car door on his leg. Martin handed over his driver’s license and the vehicle registration. Malhoyt thereupon returned to the police car, apparently to check the documents.
Just then, Martin saw his passengers approaching the limousine. Almost reflexively, he got out of the vehicle to open the door for them. Suddenly, without a word of instruction or command to Martin, Malhoyt reappeared at the limousine, pushed Martin against the vehicle, and twisted his arms behind his back. Malhoyt then handcuffed Martin and forced him into the police car, where Martin was obliged to sit, hands cuffed behind his back, for a prolonged period of time. An old shoulder injury made the awkward position severely painful for Martin, and he felt humiliated in front of his passengers and other onlookers.
After talking to the limousine passengers, Malhoyt drove Martin to the Park Police Station at 1100 Ohio Drive, S.W. Unable to say why he had made the arrest, Malhoyt asked Martin to sign a document and pay $10.00 to end the matter. Martin refused and was then fingerprinted and placed in a jail cell. Hours later, as Martin recalls, he was again put in a police car, hands cuffed behind his back, and was brought to the courthouse, but arrived there too late to obtain a hearing that day. On return to the Park Police Station, Malhoyt told Martin that this time, Martin would remain locked up overnight. Martin then called an attorney; on the attorney’s advice, Martin posted $10.00 as collateral so that he could gain release. Martin estimates that he was released at about 5:00 p.m., approximately four hours after his arrest. Just as he was leaving the station, Martin states, Malhoyt informed him for the first time that he was being charged with disorderly conduct and disobeying the order of a police officer.
Two weeks later, on the date set for trial of the disorderly conduct charge, Martin and his attorney spent hours waiting in the District of Columbia Superior Court, but Martin’s name was not called. Upon checking with the Office of the Corporation Counsel, Martin’s attorney learned that the charge would be dismissed because no one from the Park Police had appeared to “paper” it. Trial on the charge of disobeying an officer’s order was set for August 29, 1984; on August 28, however, Martin learned that this charge too would be dismissed for the same reason.
2. Malhoyt’s account
According to Sergeant Malhoyt, at about 12:30 p.m. on the afternoon of July 17, 1984, Park Aide John R. Jones III summoned him to the Lincoln Memorial Circle to resolve a parking problem. On arrival, he saw Martin’s Cadillac limousine parked in a space reserved for disabled persons; Jones informed Malhoyt that the limousine driver had twice refused to leave, and had dared Jones to call the police. When Malhoyt told Martin that the Cadillac was parked illegally, Martin responded that one of his passengers, a small child, was having difficulty walking. Jones, who was within earshot, and Martin began to argue, Jones claiming that Martin had said nothing to him about a disabled passenger. Malhoyt stopped the argument by sending Jones away. Telling Martin he would wait to verify Martin’s account, Malhoyt returned to his police cruiser and parked it behind the limousine.
A few minutes later, without warning, the limousine started south on French Drive away from the Lincoln Memorial. Because no passengers had approached the Cadillac and the driver was apparently leaving the Memorial, Malhoyt decided to ticket the driver for illegally parking in a disabled-only zone. Malhoyt switched on his emergency equipment as he pursued the limousine, which came to a stop 75 to 100 yards down French Drive. After Malhoyt asked Martin several times for his driver’s license and registration, Martin opened the car door and got out. As Martin handed Malhoyt his license and registration, Malhoyt told Martin to get back in the car because Malhoyt thought this would be safer for Martin and oncoming traffic, as well as for Malhoyt himself if Martin proved dangerous. After Malhoyt repeated this instruction several times, Martin sat down in the car, leaving the door open and keeping his left foot on the street. Malhoyt, as he tells it, “lifted [Martin’s] leg, plac[ed] it in the car[,] and closed the door.”
Back in his police cruiser, Malhoyt noticed some people approaching the Cadillac; surmising (correctly) that these were the limousine passengers, he left the cruiser to determine whether anyone in the group was walking with difficulty. Martin also left his vehicle and walked toward the passengers. Malhoyt then asked Martin to return to the limousine so that Malhoyt could speak to the passengers without Martin's interference. Martin refused, and became “increasingly argumentative, loud[,] and uncooperative.” “Concerned that th[e] situation was getting out of control,” Malhoyt arrested Martin for disorderly conduct.
At the Park Police Station, Malhoyt charged Martin with disorderly conduct and disobeying the order of a police officer. Malhoyt then explained Martin’s options to him: Martin could post collateral (and either forfeit or demand a court date) or go directly to court. Malhoyt claims he processed the case as quickly as possible. He does not dispute that he arrived at court with Martin several minutes too late to afford Martin a hearing that day, but he asserts that Martin was released by mid-afternoon, immediately upon posting $10.00 as collateral, at about 3:30 p.m. Malhoyt further states that he asked another Park Police sergeant to have an officer from his squad “paper” Martin’s case and that he provided that other sergeant with the necessary information and documentation. Malhoyt next heard of Martin, he avers, after the instant suit was filed.
B. Stevens v. Stover, No. 86-5565
The events giving rise to this case began at about 11:30 p.m. on June 22, 1984. Plaintiff Shirley Ann Stevens, then a sergeant in the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) but off-duty and out of uniform, was driving north on Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E. in Washington, D.C.; she encountered a traffic tie-up near Sousa Bridge caused by crowds departing from a concert in Fort Dupont Park. Again, the opposing sides account differently for the ensuing imbroglio.
I. Stevens’ account
According to Stevens and the other two occupants of the car — Stevens’ aunt, Mary Ella Stevens, and cousin, Johnny Bush, Jr. —Stevens sat patiently in the stalled traffic at a red light. She had imbibed only a small glass of wine that evening and was not intoxicated. Stevens heard car horns blaring but did not sound her own; she noticed an MPD officer apparently conversing with people in a car three or four car lengths ahead of hers. Stevens and her passengers state that this officer, whom the parties agree was MPD Officer McKinstry, did not speak to Stevens.
When the traffic light turned green and cars began to move, Stevens proceeded apace with the other vehicles towards Sousa Bridge. She then heard a siren, which she guessed was an emergency vehicle en route to an accident; as quickly as was possible in the heavy traffic, Stevens pulled to the right-hand curb. A car swerved to a stop in front of her, and a man dressed in blue jeans, a plaid shirt, and a painter’s cap jumped out, sprinted to Stevens’ car, and shouted, “You’re locked up.” Reaching for her purse, Stevens tried to identify herself as a police officer, but the man opened her car door, dragged her out of the vehicle, and struck her in the face. He then handcuffed her, “brutally grinding her body and face onto the trunk of her... vehicle,” while “hysterically screaming” to a companion: “She’s got a gun.” Her assailant’s companion, Stevens remembers, stood by “with his hands in his pocketfs],” doing nothing to intervene. Stevens did not in fact have a gun on her person or in her vehicle.
Stevens’ assailant forced her into his car, throwing her on the back seat by her hair and arm, and dispersed all onlookers. After rolling up the car windows, he began punching Stevens in the chest and abdomen. She turned over to protect herself, but he continued to beat her. During this attack, the man said to Stevens, as she recalls his words: “You are one black bitch we don’t have to worry about anymore, and... guess what I am going to do for you. I’m going to charge you with assaulting a police officer.”
Stevens next remembers being placed on the cold metal of what she believes was a police van; she recalls little else until she awoke in severe pain on the floor of a cell. The cell was in the Anacostia Station of the United States Park Police, and the man who had arrested and battered her, she learned, was Park Police Sergeant David H. Stover (since promoted to lieutenant). Stover’s companion at the Bridge, the man who had not come to Stevens’ aid, was Park Police Officer John Harasek. Eventually, Stevens was moved to a holding cell at the District of Columbia Superior Court where U.S. Marshals informed her that she was charged with assaulting a police officer and driving while intoxicated (DWI).
After her release on bond, Stevens was treated at Providence Hospital for renal failure, which necessitated catheterization. She had also suffered a concussion and multiple contusions and abrasions on her face and body. Stevens spent eight days in the hospital. The concussion caused partial amnesia, and Stevens is undergoing psychiatric care as a result of the incident.
The DWI charge was dropped and, on April 10, 1985, after a grand jury refused to indict Stevens for assaulting a police officer, all charges were dismissed. Stevens was later discharged from the Metropolitan Police Department because of the events of June 22, 1984.
2. Stover-Harasek account
According to Stover and Harasek, on the evening of Stevens’ arrest, the two Park Police officers, wearing plain clothes, were on duty in an unmarked cruiser; Stover was driving. At about 11:30 p.m., they were waiting on westbound Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E. at its intersection with Minnesota Avenue, S.E., while two uniformed MPD officers directed the dense traffic. When one of the officers, later identified as Officer McKinstry, held up the westbound traffic for an entire cycle of the traffic lights, a car horn began sounding. Stover and Harasek observed that the driver of the car to their right, later identified as plaintiff Shirley Stevens, was doing the honking.
McKinstry shouted a command telling the honker to stop, and Stevens paused. McKinstry held the traffic through another cycle of the lights, and Stevens began honking again. This time, McKinstry walked toward the cars, and Harasek indicated that Stevens was the source of the noise. McKinstry politely informed Stevens that using a horn in a non-emergency situation is punishable by a $25.00 fine. Stevens continued honking. McKinstry asked Stevens for her driver’s license and vehicle registration. Just then, the light turned green. Stevens shouted, “Fuck you,” and drove away, nearly hitting McKinstry. Stover turned on his lights and siren and followed.
Stover and Harasek say Stevens moved to the right but did not stop, even when Stover brought his car alongside hers and he and Harasek gestured for her to pull over. Stover finally forced Stevens to stop by cutting in front of her. He then ran back to her car and showed her his badge. Stevens screamed, “Who the fuck are you?” Stover noticed that Stevens’ eyes were watery, and he smelled alcohol.
After stating who he was and again displaying his badge, Stover asked Stevens whether she had heard the MPD officer request her license and registration. Stevens responded that she was an MPD sergeant herself and that Stover could not arrest her “for failure to exhibit.” She reached for her purse. Stover ordered her not to touch it, but Stevens ignored him. Fearing that the purse contained a weapon, Stover grabbed it, and Stevens bit him on his right forearm, drawing blood. At this point, Harasek helped pull a struggling and cursing Stevens from the car. The officers brought Stevens to the rear of the car, and Stover announced that she was under arrest. Stevens flailed her arms, trying to prevent Stover and Harasek from handcuffing her. After a scuffle, they bent her over the trunk of the car and put on the cuffs.
Stover placed the still resisting Stevens in the back of his cruiser and sat down in front to use the radio. Stevens rocked onto her back and began kicking him in the head; next, she repeatedly attempted to escape by lifting the rear door lock with her teeth, twice managing to open the door.
Other officers arrived on the scene and Stevens was removed from the cruiser, placed in a police wagon, and transported to the Park Police Anacostia Station. There, Stevens refused to take a breath test for alcohol and continued to use abusive language; two officers at the station observed Stevens washing herself with water from the toilet in her cell. At her request, Stevens was taken by ambulance to D.C. General Hospital. Once there, however, she refused to identify herself or to allow doctors to treat her. She was returned to the police station and charged with assault on a police officer, DWI, and failure to exhibit her driving permit.
Stover further recounted that Stevens’ two passengers, Johnny Bush and Mary Stevens, were interviewed on the night of the episode and appeared to be extremely-intoxicated. Mary Stevens, according to Stover, admitted that all three had been drinking.
3. Administrative proceedings against Stevens
On August 25, 1985, the MPD gave Stevens notice that the Department proposed to remove her from the police force because of the arrest episode. Stevens requested review by an MPD Adverse Action Panel. A three-member panel, at a hearing which ran several days, received documentary and testimonial evidence. Stevens was represented by counsel. On May 22, 1986, the panel recommended Stevens' removal from the MPD.
Substantially crediting the Stover-Harasek account, the panel found that Stevens had in fact honked her horn unnecessarily, failed to display her driver’s license and registration, refused to yield to Stover’s police vehicle, resisted arrest, attempted escape, operated her car under the influence of alcohol, and used marijuana. Further, the panel found that any injuries Stevens sustained were the result of her fighting with, and resisting arrest by, the Park Police. On May 29, 1986, the MPD adopted the panel’s decision, and on June 20, Stevens was removed from the police force. Stevens appealed the MPD’s decision to the Office of Employee Appeals, see D.C. Code Ann. § 1-606.3 (1981); that appeal remains pending.
II. The District Court Proceedings
Martin filed suit in the district court on July 16, 1985 against, inter alia, Malhoyt and Lynn H. Herring, Chief of the United States Park Police. Stevens commenced her action in the district court on June 21, 1985 against, inter alia, Stover, Harasek, and Herring. All four were sued in their individual and official capacities. Martin and Stevens named numerous other defendants who are not parties to this appeal.
The complaints charged that the defendants had violated Martin’s and Stevens’ constitutional rights, including the fourth amendment right to be free of unreasonable seizures, the fifth amendment right not to be deprived of liberty or property without due process of law, and the sixth amendment right to be informed of the nature and cause of criminal accusations. Stevens also alleged that Stover, Harasek, and McKinstry, as part of a conspiracy to violate Stevens’ constitutional rights, and in contravention of 42 U.S.C. § 1985, had made statements calculated to secure Stevens’ criminal prosecution. Both plaintiffs claimed, “[o]n information and belief,” that it is a practice of the United States Park Police to arrest and assault people who have committed no offense and to charge them with disorderly conduct, disobeying a police officer, or assaulting a police officer. These charges, according to plaintiffs, are usually dismissed before trial.
In addition to alleging claims of constitutional dimension, the two complaints also allege common law claims for assault, battery, false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and gross negligence. Martin included a defamation claim. Stevens, in a particularized separate count, charged appellant Harasek with breaching his “affirmative duty to intervene and prevent Defendant Stover from unlawfully arresting and assaulting Plaintiff.” Martin and Stevens requested compensatory and punitive damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. The two cases were assigned to the same district judge.
In both cases, the appellants now before us — Malhoyt and Herring in Martin; Stover, Harasek, and Herring in Stevens —moved for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) (failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted) or for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On July 9,1986 in Martin, and on July 15, 1986 in Stevens, the district court filed opinions and orders denying these motions in substantial part.
In support of their dispositive motions, all four appellants first argued, citing Barr v. Matteo, 360 U.S. 564, 79 S.Ct. 1335, 3 L.Ed.2d 1434 (1959), that they have absolute immunity from liability on appellees’ common law tort claims. The district court rejected this plea as to Malhoyt, Stover, and Harasek on the ground that absolute immunity shelters only “discretionary” acts, not “ministerial” conduct. Featuring Carter v. Carlson, 447 F.2d 358 (D.C.Cir. 1971), rev’d on other grounds sub nom. District of Columbia v. Carter, 409 U.S. 418, 93 S.Ct 602, 34 L.Ed.2d 613 (1973), the court ruled that arrests by police officers qualify as ministerial acts for the purpose at hand, and therefore are not shielded by Barr immunity. The district court, however, did dismiss on immunity grounds pleas against Park Police Chief Herring insofar as they involved allegedly negligent training; deciding what to cover in training, the district court said, is a “discretionary” act, indeed, it involves “the essence of policy formulation.”
As to the alleged constitutional torts, appellants claimed qualified immunity, citing Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). The district court recited the Harlow standard: qualified immunity shields government officials as long as “their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Id. at 818, 102 S.Ct. at 2738. The law was clear, the district judge observed, on the necessity of probable cause for an arrest, the impermissibility of excessive force in making an arrest, and the elements of the offenses for which the arrests had been made. Because the facts relevant to the probable cause determination were sharply disputed, however, the district judge stated that he could not determine whether Malhoyt, Stover, and Harasek had violated clearly established legal rules concerning arrests until further discovery had taken place. Similarly, the court stated that further discovery was in order before it could resolve the question of Park Police Chief Herring’s immunity from suit on the charge of maintaining a policy of arresting absent probable cause, and later dropping the charges. With respect to the constitutional tort claims, the court therefore denied without prejudice appellants’ Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 56 motions.
Malhoyt, Stover, Harasek, and Herring filed appeals from the district court’s denials of their immunity-based dismissal motions. The appeals were consolidated. Pending appeal, appellants moved in the district court, under Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for protective orders halting discovery, and for stays of all district court proceedings. The court refused to postpone discovery, but stayed trial pending appeal.
On January 8, 1987, appellants Malhoyt and Herring in Martin and Stover, Harasek, and Herring in Stevens moved for reconsideration in the district court in light of several cases decided by this court in December 1986 dealing with qualified immunity and the specificity of pleading necessary to withstand a motion to dismiss. See Ellsberg v. Mitchell, 807 F.2d 204 (D.C.Cir.1986); Smith v. Nixon, 807 F.2d 197 (D.C.Cir.1986); Halperin v. Kissinger, 807 F.2d 180 (D.C.Cir.1986). The Stevens appellants, citing University of Tennessee v. Elliott,—U.S.-, 106 S.Ct. 3220, 92 L.Ed.2d 635 (1986), also argued in their motion for reconsideration that Stevens was precluded from relitigating issues of fact resolved by the Adverse Action Panel. The district court denied the motion to reconsider on March 17, 1987 in Martin and on April 7, 1987 in Stevens.
III. Official Immunity
To determine whether the district court erred in refusing to enter summary judgment on the defendants’ pleas of official immunity from the claims asserted by Martin and Stevens, we must first pursue a threshold inquiry: What are the contours of the immunity to which the defendants are entitled? As to the alleged constitutional violations, the parties agree that the defendants can assert a “qualified immunity” from suit; their disagreement centers on the application of that standard to the plaintiffs’ allegations, a question we address in Section IV. Officers Malhoyt, Stover and Harasek additionally contend that, by virtue of the “absolute immunity” rule established in Barr v. Matteo, 360 U.S. 564, 79 S.Ct. 1335, 3 L.Ed.2d 1434 (1959), they are totally immune from suit on the common law claims facing them. We reject the pleas of total immunity, and hold that these officers have, instead, a “qualified immunity” from liability on the common law claims alleged in the Martin and Stevens complaints. Because the law in this area is unsettled — still evolving and variously interpreted — we spell out our reasoning in some detail. We note that guidance from Higher Authority may soon be available to us and our sister courts, for the Supreme Court has undertaken to address the question of Barr’s reach. See Erwin v. Westfall, 785 F.2d 1551 (11th Cir.1986), cert. granted,—U.S.-, 107 S.Ct. 1346, 94 L.Ed.2d 517 (1987); Brief for the Petitioners at 8, Westfall v. Erwin (No. 86-714) (Solicitor General argues that “federal employees acting wiihin the scope of their employment — and most clearly those exercising a modicum of discretion — are entitled to [absolute] immunity from state law tort suits.”).
A. Barr and the Doctrine of “Absolute Immunity” for Federal Officials
In Barr, the Supreme Court, held that the Acting Director of the Office of Rent Stabilization, a federal agency, was immune from a libel suit arising out of actions taken “within the outer perimeter of [his] line of duty.” 360 U.S. at 575, 79 S.Ct. at 1341; see also Howard v. Lyons, 360 U.S. 593, 597, 79 S.Ct. 1331, 1333, 3 L.Ed.2d 1454 (1959) (scope of immunity afforded federal employees is a matter of federal law “to be formulated by the courts in the absence of legislative action by Congress”). The precise reach of the Barr holding as to other tortious acts and less elevated federal employees was not settled by the Court’s decision; in sustaining Barr’s immunity claim, Justice Black, whose vote was necessary to form a majority, stressed the importance of “informed public opinion” to the “effective functioning of a free government.” Barr, 360 U.S. at 577, 79 S.Ct. at 1342 (Black, J., concurring); see also id. ("[I]f federal employees are to be subjected to... restraint in reporting their views about how to run the government better, the restraint will have to be imposed expressly by Congress and not by the general libel laws of the States[.]”).
Uncertainty as to the bounds, and even the endurance, of Barr developed in the years following announcement of the decision. As we recently observed:
In a series of mid 1970’s decisions, the Supreme Court generally rejected state officials’ pleas of absolute immunity from civil liability for torts committed in alleged violation of a plaintiff’s constitutional rights. See Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976); Wood v. Strickland, 420 U.S. 308, 95 S.Ct. 992, 43 L.Ed.2d 214 (1975); Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). This series of decisions fueled debate earlier generated in commentary over the soundness, breadth, and continued vitality of Barr. See, e.g., Expeditions Unlimited Aquatic Enterprises, Inc. v. Smithsonian Institution, 566 F.2d 289, 303 (D.C.Cir.1977) (en banc) (Wilkey, J., concurring), cert. denied, 438 U.S. 915, 98 S.Ct. 3144, 57 L.Ed.2d 1160 (1978).
McKinney v. Whitfield, 736 F.2d 766, 768 (D.C.Cir.1984).
Doubts about Barr’s continuing vitality, however, were dispelled in Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978). Butz was an action for damages against Agriculture Department officials alleged to have violated plaintiff’s constitutional rights; the Court assumed Barr’s continuing sway, while holding that it “does not control this case.” Id. at 489, 98 S.Ct. at 2902. The Butz Court distinguished Barr on the ground that Barr “did not purport to protect an official who has not only committed a wrong under local law, but also violated those fundamental principles of fairness embodied in the Constitution.” Id. at 495, 98 S.Ct. at 2905; see also id. (“The liability of officials who have exceeded constitutional limits was not confronted in... Barr [.]”) (emphasis added).
While assuming the endurance of Barr, the Butz Court rejected the attempt to extend Barr beyond “state tort claims,” id., into the realm of “constitutional torts.” Butz thus confined, but did not precisely define, Barr’s scope, for the Court left unresolved the extent to which Barr -style immunity adheres to all non -constitutional claims against federal employees. See id. (“Whatever level of protection from state interference is appropriate for federal officials executing their duties under federal law, it cannot be doubted that these officials... are subject to the restraints imposed by the Federal Constitution.”) (emphasis added); cf. United States v. Brewster, 408 U.S. 501, 513-15, 92 S.Ct. 2531, 2537, 33 L.Ed.2d 507 (1972) (statement in prior case that immunity under Speech or Debate Clause does not attach to actions “in no wise related to the due functioning of the legislative process” does not “imply as a corollary” that all actions related to the legislative process are immune). It remains to be determined by the Supreme Court both (1) the character of claims — all or only some common law torts — within Barr, and (2) the universe of federal employees covered by the absolute immunity shield.
Lacking further instruction from the Supreme Court, some lower federal courts have moved toward adoption of this dichotomy: “qualified immunity” under Butz when a federal official is charged with.a constitutional tort; “absolute immunity” under Barr when the charge is a common law tort. See, e.g., Martin v. D.C. Metropolitan Police Dep’t, 812 F.2d 1425, 1428 n. 11 (D.C.Cir.1987) (courts have “extended the absolute immunity defense to ‘executive officials at all levels’ of the federal hierarchy [and] to a full range of common law delicts”), quoting McKinney, 736 F.2d at 769. See generally 5 Davis, Administrative Law Treatise 112-21 (2d ed. 1984) (commenting critically on the position emerging in the wake of Butz that “absolute immunity” goes with common law tort claims, “qualified immunity” with constitutional tort claims).
But acceptance of this bipartite scheme is not universal, and diversity among federal courts remains marked, particularly as to the categories of employees sheltered by Barr. While two courts of appeals have indicated that Barr’s absolute immunity from common law tort liability extends to all federal employees, regardless of their duties or place in the federal hierarchy, see General Electric Co. v. United States, 813 F.2d 1273, 1276-77 (4th Cir.1987); Poolman v. Nelson, 802 F.2d 304, 307 (8th Cir.1986), other courts have limited Barr to employees at the policymaking or planning level, as distinguished from employees working at the operational level who function day to day under established procedures and guidelines. See Heathcoat v. Potts, 790 F.2d 1540, 1542 (11th Cir.1986); Araujo v. Welch, 742 F.2d 802, 804 (3d Cir.1984); Jackson v. Kelly, 557 F.2d 735, 737-38 (10th Cir.1977) (en banc); see also Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. at 807-808, 102 S.Ct. at 2732-33 (Barr applies to “high” government officials). Still other courts stand someplace in between, applying Barr to officers exercising even limited discretion. See Granger v. Marek, 583 F.2d 781 (6th Cir.1978); Green v. James, 473 F.2d 660 (9th Cir.1973).
Of particular relevance to the claims before us, the Supreme Court has never held or even hinted that federal law enforcement officers enjoy absolute immunity for wrongful conduct — however characterized (constitutional or common law tort) — engaged in during an arrest. See Doe v. McMillan, 412 U.S. 306, 319, 93 S.Ct. 2018, 2028, 36 L.Ed.2d 912 (1973) (“Barr... made it clear that the immunity conferred might not be the same for all officials for all purposes____ Judges, like executive officers with discretionary functions, have been held absolutely immune— But policemen and like officials apparently enjoy a more limited privilege.”); cf. Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 555, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 1218, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967) (observing in dictim that “[t]he common law has never granted police officers an absolute and unqualified immunity”). We therefore resist taking either a mechanistic approach (as Butz attends constitutional tort claims so Barr attends common law tort claims), or one not suggested by the Supreme Court (holding police officers absolutely immune) to the tort liability of the officers before us in these consolidated actions. Instead, we have freshly and closely examined the Barr and Butz opinions; based on that examination, we decline to extend “absolute immunity” to the Park Police misconduct claims sub judice in these cases.
Three interlocking and mutually reinforcing goals figured prominently in Barr. The first is implicated whenever courts confront damage actions against government officials: “[Officials of government should be free to exercise their duties unembarrassed by the fear of damage suits in respect to acts done in the course of those duties — suits which would consume time and energies which would otherwise be devoted to governmental service and the threat of which might appreciably inhibit the fearless, vigorous, and effective administration of policies of government.” Barr, 360 U.S. at 571, 79 S.Ct. at 1339. Second was a perceived need to exempt government officials from the burden of explaining and justifying their subjective motives for choosing a particular course of action. See id. at 575, 79 S.Ct. at 1341 (“The fact that the action here was within the outer perimeter of petitioner’s line of duty is enough to render the privilege applicable, despite the allegations of malice in the complaint [.]”) (emphasis added); id. at 571, 79 S.Ct. at 1339 (“Again and again the public interest calls for action which may turn out to be founded on a mistake, on the face of which an official may later find himself hard put to satisfy a jury of his good faith”; public officials who have been “honestly mistaken” should not be exposed to suit.), quoting Gregoire v. Biddle, 177 F.2d 579, 581 (2d Cir.1949); Spalding v. Vilas, 161 U.S. 483, 498, 16 S.Ct. 631, 637, 40 L.Ed. 780 (1896) (federal officers should not be “under an apprehension that the motives that control [their] official conduct may, at any time, become the subject of inquiry in a civil suit for damages”).
These

Question: What party initiated the appeal?
A. Original plaintiff
B. Original defendant
C. Federal agency representing plaintiff
D. Federal agency representing defendant
E. Intervenor
F. Not applicable
G. Not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: B