Opinion ID: 789967
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Horne

Text: 19 In Ehrlich v. Town of Glastonbury, 348 F.3d 48 (2d Cir.2003), we reaffirmed that [i]n Saucier, the Supreme Court made plain that a sequential two-step analysis of qualified immunity claims is not simply recommended but required. Id. at 56-57. Ehrlich nonetheless found exceptions to this otherwise straightforward rule, based on principles set forth in our pre- Saucier decision, Horne v. Coughlin, 191 F.3d 244 (2d Cir.1999). I dissented in Horne because then-governing Supreme Court precedent stated that the better approach to resolving cases in which the defense of qualified immunity is raised is to determine first whether the plaintiff has alleged a deprivation of a constitutional right at all. Normally, it is only after making such a determination that a court should ask whether the right allegedly implicated was clearly established at the time of the events in question. County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 841 n. 5, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998). From this I concluded 20 A federal court faced with a suit alleging the deprivation of a constitutional right under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 should ordinarily decide whether the constitutional right alleged by the plaintiff actually exists, even where the defense of qualified immunity might provide an alternative ground for decision. Although this principle need not govern in each and every case, it is undoubtedly the [n]ormal [ ] rule and the better approach to constitutional adjudication in § 1983 litigation. Moreover, neither the policy of avoidance of constitutional questions nor the remote possibility of clarifying the law in later suits for injunctive relief justifies a departure from this general principle. Rather, courts remain free to depart from the general rule only in those situations where they can articulate a persuasive reason for doing so. 21 Horne, 191 F.3d at 251-52 (Cardamone, J., dissenting). I did not believe that the Horne majority articulated sufficient reasons for avoiding the constitutional question in that case.