Opinion ID: 728357
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction and the Applicable Standard of Review

Text: This Court has jurisdiction to review the denial of qualified immunity as a final decision under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. See Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 524-30, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985) (holding that a district court ruling denying qualified immunity, to the extent that it turns on an issue of law, is subject to immediate appeal under the collateral order doctrine). It is clear here that the District Court's denials of appellants' requests for qualified immunity `turn[] on... issue[s] of law.' Int'l Action Ctr. v. United States, 365 F.3d 20, 23 (D.C.Cir. 2004) (quoting Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806). For purposes of this appeal, appellants do not contest that they failed to knock and announce before entering into appellees' home; and there is no dispute that appellants executed the search warrant during the nighttime. Therefore, the dispute before the court does not concern which facts the parties might be able to prove in support of their claims. Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 311, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995). Rather, the question here is whether appellees' asserted rights were clearly established when appellants executed the search warrant. This involves issues of law which must be resolved de novo on appeal. Elder v. Holloway, 510 U.S. 510, 516, 114 S.Ct. 1019, 127 L.Ed.2d 344 (1994) (citation omitted); see also Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 528 n. 9, 105 S.Ct. 2806; Estate of Phillips v. District of Columbia, 455 F.3d 397, 402-03 (D.C.Cir. 2006).