Opinion ID: 2257808
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Recovery for Constitutional Violations in Other States

Text: Several of our sister state supreme courts have also grappled with the question of whether monetary relief is available for state constitutional violations notwithstanding the absence of an express statutory remedy for such violations. However, none has addressed this issue in the context of an alleged violation of a victims' rights constitutional amendment. [55] Many of the courts in our sister jurisdictions have not strayed far from the Bivens doctrine. The common approach has been to focus on the presence or absence of an existing alternative remedy that would provide some form of relief to the injured party when considering whether Bivens suits are available for violations of rights guaranteed under a state's declaration of rights. [56] Other state courts have used an analytical approach involving a multiple-step inquiry. See, e.g., Rockhouse Mountain Property Owners Association, Inc. v. Town of Conway, 127 N.H. 593, 503 A.2d 1385, 1388 (1986) (Souter, J.) (determining first whether the plaintiff's asserted interest deserves legal recognition and, if so, whether the relief requested would be an appropriate way to recognize that interest); Shields v. Gerhart, 163 Vt. 219, 658 A.2d 924, 927 (1995) (determining first whether the specific constitutional provision is self-executing and, if so, whether monetary damages provide the appropriate remedy in light of the existence of any alternative remedial scheme). I believe that a multi-step inquiry in the mold of Shields and Rockhouse is the proper approach for determining whether monetary or other forms of relief are available for a plaintiff injured by a violation of a Rhode Island constitutional provision. First, a court should address whether there has been an alleged violation of a state constitutional provision. Next, it should determine whether the plaintiff possesses a legal entitlement to relief for this particular violation. Accordingly the court should determine whether the Judiciary has the power to authorize a cause of action for the particular plaintiff at barโ that is, whether the constitutional provision is self-executing for this type of litigant. Finally, assuming the finding of a violation of a self-executing constitutional provision, then a court must ascertain the proper remedy. It cannot address the question of [its] ability to award a particular remedy until it determines that the harm to be remedied is legally cognizable and declares the government action unconstitutional. Susan Bandes, Reinventing Bivens: The Self-Executing Constitution, 68 S. Cal. L.Rev. 289, 302-03 (1995).