Opinion ID: 489887
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Policymaking Liability

Text: 47 Governmental officials may also be held personally liable in damages for constitutional infringements resulting from their establishment of unconstitutional policies. 145 5] In contrast to supervisory or training liability, policymaking liability rests upon the official's misfeasance rather than his nonfeasance. 146 For an official to be held accountable on this basis, he must actually prescribe policy--formally or de facto 147 --that encourages improper means or ends. To succeed on a policymaking theory, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the official against whom liability is asserted has the power--vested either formally or as a practical matter--to formulate policy, and has exercised that policymaking authority to generate improper practices. As in the case of supervisory liability, a plaintiff seeking to recover against a policymaking official must demonstrate a causal connection between the policy established and the wrong committed against him. 148 48