Opinion ID: 4214415
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Moving Beyond the Fourth Amendment

Text: The district court treated Jauch’s due process claim as a Fourth Amendment claim, reasoning that “[b]ecause an arrest is a seizure, . . . the more particularized Fourth Amendment analysis [is] appropriate” and concluding that because probable cause supported Jauch’s arrest, there was no constitutional violation. This analysis dooms Jauch’s claim and seemingly means the Constitution is not violated by prolonged pretrial detention so long as the arrest is supported by probable cause. While this appeal was pending, the Supreme Court issued Manuel v. City of Joliet, which held that a defendant seized without probable cause could challenge his pretrial detention under the Fourth Amendment. 137 S.Ct. 911, 917 (2017). Manuel does not address the availability of due process challenges after a legal seizure, and it cannot be read to mean, as Defendants contend, that only the Fourth Amendment is available to pre-trial detainees. For example, even when the detention is legal, a pre-trial detainee subjected to excessive force properly invokes the Fourteenth Amendment. See, e.g., Brothers v. Klevenhagen, 28 F.3d 452, 455 (5th Cir. 1994). So, too, may a legally seized pre-trial detainee held for an extended period without further 4 Case: 16-60690 Document: 00514207740 Page: 5 Date Filed: 10/24/2017 No. 16-60690 process. This Court has already addressed the interplay between the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment, and Manuel fits with these prior cases. In 1996, we held the Fourth Amendment inapplicable to the usual pretrial detainee who was properly arrested and awaiting trial. Brooks v. George Cnty., Miss., 84 F.3d 157, 167 (5th Cir. 1996). When confronted with a defendant held upon probable cause who spent nine months in pretrial detention, we found the Fourth Amendment inapplicable and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment implicated. See Jones v. City of Jackson, 203 F.3d 875, 880 (5th Cir. 2000). The Fourth Amendment could not have been violated, we explained, because the plaintiff was originally arrested “pursuant to a valid court order,” but the “alleged nine month detention without proper due process protections” would amount to a due process violation if proven. Id. By contrast to these cases, where a claim of unlawful detention was accompanied by allegations that the initial arrest was not supported by valid probable case, we held that analysis was proper “under the Fourth Amendment and not under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.” Bosarge v. Miss. Bureau of Narcotics, 796 F.3d 435, 441 (5th Cir. 2015); see also Castellano v. Fragozo, 352 F.3d 939, 953 (5th Cir. 2003) (en banc). Just like Manuel.