Court Opinion

ID: 9440529
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 16:51:50.444567+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:27:45.021863
License: Public Domain

CALABRESI, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in Parts I and III of the Chief Judge’s opinion and join those parts in their entirety. I also agree with the conclusion of Part II of the Chief Judge’s opinion that, given the facts in the record, this case is best decided on the merits rather than on qualified immunity grounds. See Ehrlich v. Town of Glastonbury, 348 F.3d 48, 55 (2d Cir.2003) (Calabresi, J.) (“[I]f courts consistently avoided the constitutional issue by simply dismissing suits on the basis of immunity, ‘standards of official conduct would tend to remain uncertain, to the detriment both of officials and individuals.’ ” (quoting County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 841 n. 5, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998))). I do not join Part II of the Chief Judge’s opinion, because there are some aspects of that part of the opinion that I do not agree with fully and other aspects that I might agree with, but I do not think are necessary to the conclusion that Costello does not have a case on the merits.
Were I to reach the question of qualified immunity, I would be completely comfortable joining Judge Pooler’s discussion of qualified immunity. I hence would have no problem joining Part II.B of her opinion. But because I agree that, given the uncontroverted facts in the record, Costello loses on the merits and because I believe a decision on the merits is more appropriate than a decision based solely on qualified immunity, my vote to affirm is based on the merits.