Opinion ID: 381285
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claim Against the Newspaper

Text: 18 In dismissing the conspiracy claim against the newspaper, the district court noted that a private person cannot violate the fourth amendment and that the newspaper was not involved in the early 1960's when the federal defendants allegedly violated the fourth amendment by intercepting plaintiffs' communications. 10 See District Court Memorandum at 3-4, reprinted in J.A. at 14-15. Plaintiffs contend that their Bivens claim against the newspaper should not have been dismissed. They argue that Bivens liability should be imposed on private parties that assist or encourage governmental officials in the violation of constitutional rights and that the district court, in concluding that there was no constitutional violation at the time of the alleged conspiracy, erroneously refused to treat the government's 1976 disclosure to the newspaper of plaintiffs' intercepted communications as an independent violation of the fourth amendment. 19 Bivens stands for the proposition that victims of constitutional violations committed by federal officials generally have a right to recover damages from the officials without the need for an authorizing statute. See Carlson v. Green, 446 U.S. 14, 100 S.Ct. 1468, 1472, 64 L.Ed.2d 15 (1980). The Supreme Court has never discussed the possibility that Bivens liability might extend beyond federal officials and reach private actors who in some way have participated in a governmental violation of constitutional rights. The Court has, however, indicated more generally that Bivens liability is inappropriate (when defendants demonstrate) 'special factors counselling hesitation in the absence of affirmative action by Congress.'  Id. (quoting Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. at 396, 91 S.Ct. at 2005). 20 Assuming without deciding that private parties may in some circumstances be held liable under Bivens for conspiring with federal officials, 11 we believe there are three special factors that, taken together, preclude us from imposing such liability in the present case. First, the asserted violation of constitutional policy that would form the predicate for such liability i. e., the alleged governmental disclosure of information originally obtained in violation of the fourth amendment is well removed from the central thrust of that amendment. The fourth amendment is addressed only to searches and seizures, and the basic constitutional wrong has been fully accomplished when the unlawful search or seizure has been completed. Cf. United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 354, 94 S.Ct. 613, 623, 38 L.Ed.2d 561 (1974) (derivative use of the product of a past unlawful search and seizure . . . work(s) no new Fourth Amendment wrong). See also McSurely v. McClellan, 553 F.2d 1277 (D.C.Cir. 1976) (en banc) (court equally divided on question of whether federal officials, by transporting and using materials originally obtained through an unconstitutional search and seizure by state officials, had themselves engaged in an independent violation of the fourth amendment), cert. dismissed, 438 U.S. 189, 98 S.Ct. 3116, 57 L.Ed.2d 704 (1978). 12 Second, even if private parties might be liable under Bivens in certain circumstances, 13 we believe that a defendant's private status should at least counsel hesitation in the creation of Bivens liability, for the primary purpose of the Bivens doctrine is to remedy abuses by those who act as agents for the sovereign. Cf. Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. at 392, 91 S.Ct. at 2022 (An agent acting albeit unconstitutionally in the name of the United States possesses a far greater capacity for harm than an individual trespasser exercising no authority other than his own.). Third, finding the newspaper liable in the present case would amount to holding a newspaper liable in damages for uncovering and publishing information that it deems newsworthy. The values served by a free and vigilant press militate against such a result. Cf. Martin v. Merola, 532 F.2d 191, 199 (2d Cir. 1976) (separate statement of Gurfein, J.) (first amendment may be implicated in holding newspaper liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976) (amended 1979) based upon its publications). Based upon these considerations, we decline plaintiffs' invitation to extend Bivens to reach their claim against the newspaper.