Court Opinion

ID: 9476253
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:51:13.934345+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:12.529935
License: Public Domain

*1301EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I write separately to emphasize what I believe is most salient in the majority’s careful exposition of 28 U.S.C. §§ 2680(a) and (h): these sections of the FTCA must be harmonized. In achieving harmony, a task made no simpler by Congress’s draftsmanship and the sketchy legislative history of the law enforcement proviso, it is not necessary to conclude with the majority that “even Bivens and Collinsville would not pass muster” if the law enforcement proviso, § 2680(h), is subject to the discretionary function exception, § 2680(a). As the majority elsewhere observe, this court has held that violations of agency regulations do not fall within the discretionary function exception so as to immunize the federal government from tort liability. See, e.g., Collins v. United States, 783 F.2d 1225 (5th Cir.1986).
What I believe will require particular sensitivity in this task of statutory construction is preserving prosecutorial and discretionary law enforcement immunity. Compare Smith v. United States, 375 F.2d 243 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 841, 88 S.Ct. 76, 19 L.Ed.2d 106 (1967) (decisions on when, where and against whom to prosecute are discretionary under § 2680(a)); Gray v. Bell, 712 F.2d 490, 505 (D.C.Cir.1983) (“Although the concepts of ‘discretion’ in official immunity law and under the FTCA are not of identical scope, they are similar and may have a common origin”). In law enforcement, while the opportunities for government abuse abound, the incentive for oppressive use of FTCA lawsuits is powerful and pervasive. What better way to “get even” with one’s accuser than to file suit against the government on account of- his investigatory conduct? Such lawsuits are hardly less deleterious to conscientious law enforcement than are actions seeking to impose personal liability, because they equally threaten careers and reputations, divert official time and resources, and imperil impartial decisionmak-ing. The doctrines of absolute prosecutorial and qualified official immunity from personal liability are essential to shield the law enforcement community from unwarranted interference with their vital functions. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 806, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2732, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). The discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act should perform a similar role as the courts continue to interpret the law enforcement proviso. The panel’s use of the Elliott v. Perez pleading standard in cases involving §§ 2680(a) and (h) is a step in the direction of creating the necessary harmony.