Opinion ID: 215346
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction to Review the Denial of Qualified Immunity on the T-Shirt Claim

Text: We address a preliminary matter at the start. Doninger argues that we do not have jurisdiction over the district court's denial of qualified immunity as to the so-called t-shirt claim. Generally, a district court's denial of a claim of qualified immunity, to the extent that it turns on an issue of law, is an appealable `final decision' within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1291 notwithstanding the absence of a final judgment. Tierney v. Davidson, 133 F.3d 189, 194 (2d Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985)). We do not, however, have jurisdiction to review a denial of qualified immunity to the extent it is based on a district court's finding that there is enough evidence in the record to create a genuine issue as to factual questions that are, in fact, material to resolution of the qualified immunity claim. Salim v. Proulx, 93 F.3d 86, 89-90 (2d Cir.1996) (citing Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995), and Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 116 S.Ct. 834, 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996)). Here, we may exercise interlocutory jurisdiction to determine whether, assuming Doninger's version of the facts is true, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity as a matter of law. Tierney, 133 F.3d at 194. To the extent we base our decision on undisputed facts and Doninger's version of any material disputed facts, we have jurisdiction to consider whether, as a matter of law, the district court erred in determining that this case is sufficiently like Tinker so that school officials of reasonable competence could not disagree that the actions taken here, in their particular factual context, were illegal. [11] See Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986); see also Anderson, 483 U.S. at 638, 107 S.Ct. 3034 (noting that qualified immunity shields government officials from liability as long as their actions could reasonably have been thought consistent with the rights they are alleged to have violated).