Opinion ID: 12443
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Qualified Immunity; Standards and Review

Text: 23 Appellants argue on appeal that, as government officials, they are entitled to qualified immunity. 4 24 A state official exercising discretionary authority whose conduct deprives another of a right secured by federal constitutional or statutory law is nonetheless shielded from personal liability for damages under section 1983 by the doctrine of qualified immunity, unless at the time and under the circumstances of the challenged conduct all reasonable officials would have realized that it was proscribed by the federal law on which the suit is founded. See, e.g., Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 637-642, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3038-3040, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). In order for qualified immunity to be unavailable, at the time the challenged action occurred the federal law proscribing it must have been clearly established not only as an abstract matter but also in a more particularized ... sense such that [t]he contours of the right are sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right. Id. 483 U.S. at 635, 107 S.Ct. at 3039. For example, where the complained of conduct is a law enforcement warrantless search of a residence, qualified immunity turns not only on whether it was then clearly established that such a search required probable cause and exigent circumstances, but also on whether it was then clearly established that the circumstances with which the officer was confronted did not constitute probable cause and exigent circumstances. Id. Qualified immunity protects  'all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.'  Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 229, 112 S.Ct. 534, 537, 116 L.Ed.2d 589 (1991) (quoting Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 1096, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986)). 5 25 The issue of whether and when a right is clearly established is typically treated as a question of law. Pfannstiel v. City of Marion, 918 F.2d 1178, 1183 (5th Cir.1990). Likewise, to the extent that the relevant discrete, historic facts are undisputed, as they essentially are here, the question of the objective reasonableness of the defendant's conduct--i.e., whether at the time and under the circumstances all reasonable officials would have realized the particular challenged conduct violated the constitutional provision sued on--is also a question of law. Mangieri v. Clifton, 29 F.3d 1012, 1015-1016 (5th Cir.1994). See also Hunter at 226-29, 112 S.Ct. at 536-37 (whether under the circumstances a reasonable officer could believe probable cause for arrest existed, thus giving rise to qualified immunity, is a question of law); Blackwell v. Barton, 34 F.3d 298, 305 (5th Cir.1994); United States v. Basey, 816 F.2d 980, 988 (5th Cir.1987) (reasonable suspicion). 26 Where, as here, a section 1983 defendant pleads qualified immunity and shows he is a governmental official whose position involves the exercise of discretion, the plaintiff then has the burden to rebut this defense by establishing that the official's allegedly wrongful conduct violated clearly established law. Salas v. Carpenter, 980 F.2d 299, 306 (5th Cir.1992). We do not require that an official demonstrate that he did not violate clearly established federal rights; our precedent places that burden upon plaintiffs. Id. 27 In Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991), the Court stated that in a qualified immunity case, the first inquiry is whether the plaintiff has failed to allege the violation of a clearly established constitutional right. Id. at 231, 111 S.Ct. at 1793. Accordingly, as explained in Meadowbriar Home for Children, Inc. v. Gunn, 81 F.3d 521, 530 (5th Cir.1996): 28  'In assessing qualified immunity, we engage in a two-step analysis. First, we determine whether a plaintiff has alleged the violation of a clearly established constitutional right under the current state of the law.' R.A.M. Al-Ra'id v. Ingle, 69 F.3d 28, 31 (5th Cir.1995). 'Second, if the plaintiff has alleged such a constitutional violation, we decide whether this defendant's conduct was objectively reasonable, measured by reference to the law as clearly established at the time of the challenged conduct.' Id. at 31 (internal citations omitted). 29 The first step will generally involve analysis at a higher level of generality than the second, which focuses not only on the state of the law at the time of the complained of conduct, but also on the particulars of the challenged conduct and/or of the factual setting in which it took place. Thus, for example, in an arrest case the first step may be satisfied by finding that the law is (and was) clearly established in requiring probable cause; at the second step, we assess whether the defendant, under the particular circumstances, could have reasonably concluded that probable cause was present. See, e.g., Hunter; Anderson; Blackwell. In none of these cases was there any relevant change in the law between the complained of conduct and the court's decision; and, these decisions plainly authorized denial of relief on the basis of qualified immunity without ultimately determining whether a constitutional violation in fact occurred. 6