Court Opinion

ID: 9428516
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:24:02.151079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:13.977653
License: Public Domain

*9Justice Brennan,
with whom Justice Marshall joins,
dissenting.
While I agree with the analysis of Judge Campbell for the Court of Appeals, and therefore join in the dissenting opinion of Justice Stevens, I believe this per curiam disposition is particularly ill-conceived.
It is one thing to hold, as was held in Delaware State College v. Ricks, 449 U. S. 250 (1980), that for the purpose of computing the limitations period, a cause of action for denial of a benefit such as tenure, and consequent damage, accrues when the plaintiff learns that he has been denied that benefit; it is quite another to hold, as the Court does here, that a cause of action for damages resulting from an unconstitutional termination of employment accrues when the plaintiff learns that he will be terminated. To my knowledge, such a rule has no analogue in customary principles of limitations law. See 4 A. Corbin, Contracts § 989 (1951) (“The plaintiff should not be penalized for leaving to the defendant an opportunity to retract his wrongful repudiation; and he would be so penalized if the statutory period of limitation is held to begin to run against him immediately”).
The thrust of the Court’s decision is to require a potential civil rights plaintiff to measure the time for filing his claim from the moment some form of injunctive relief first becomes available. The effect of this ruling will be to increase the number of unripe and anticipatory lawsuits in the federal courts — lawsuits that should not be filed until some concrete harm has been suffered, and until the parties, and the forces of time, have had maximum opportunity to resolve the controversy.
Because this case is plainly distinguishable from Ricks, and the decision potentially far-reaching in its impact, the issue should be decided only upon plenary review. The Court’s summary reversal is therefore particularly inappropriate, and I respectfully dissent.