Opinion ID: 786761
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Bivens Right of Action

Text: 23 The INS officials contend that no right of action exists under Bivens to contest expedited removal under the INA, because the INA is a comprehensive remedial scheme intended to preclude a damages remedy. Cf. Schweiker v. Chilicky, 487 U.S. 412, 423, 108 S.Ct. 2460, 101 L.Ed.2d 370 (1988); Adams v. Johnson, 355 F.3d 1179, 1183-84 (9th Cir.2004). Interlocutory review of this issue is not available. See Pelletier v. Fed. Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, 968 F.2d 865, 871 (9th Cir.1992) (stating that the consideration of an argument against judicial creation of Bivens remedy was outside the limited scope of a qualified immunity interlocutory appeal), criticized on other grounds in Behrens, 516 U.S. at 308-09, 116 S.Ct. 834. Deciding this question requires the consideration of entirely distinct legal standards from, and its resolution is not a logical predicate to the resolution of, the qualified immunity issue. 24 Nor does the question whether a Bivens remedy may be inferred implicate the very power of the district court to issue the rulings on appeal: 25 [Jurisdiction] is not defeated ... by the possibility that the averments might fail to state a cause of action on which petitioners could actually recover.... Whether the complaint states a cause of action on which relief could be granted is a question of law and ... must be decided after and not before the court has assumed jurisdiction over the controversy. 26 Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 682, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946); see also Janicki Logging Co. v. Mateer, 42 F.3d 561, 563 (9th Cir.1994) (determining that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over a Bivens claim, but that the existence of a comprehensive remedial scheme counseled against permitting a Bivens remedy). 27 We therefore lack jurisdiction in this interlocutory appeal to review the district court's decision to infer a Bivens remedy.