Court Opinion

ID: 9496062
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:17:15.171532+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:21.141239
License: Public Domain

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The panel’s conclusion that the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity is based on the characterization of Martin and Stolka’s claim as a postponement of their marriage rather than a denial. This is an artificial distinction in a case such as this where, as the majority points out, the plaintiffs were allowed to marry only after their § 1983 suit was filed. A decision by defendants to change their conduct after the plaintiffs file suit does not erase the constitutional violation. Other than a de minimus delay reasonably related to penological goals, a denial of the right to marry must be analyzed under the reasonableness inquiry established in Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89-92, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987). Otherwise, once a constitutional violation stops, plaintiffs would have no recourse for a deprivation of their rights. I view this case, therefore, as involving not simply a delay in the right to marry, but a denial.
Left, then, with Martin and Stolka’s claim that defendants violated their right to marry, I believe additional fact development is necessary before this court could decide whether defendants are entitled to qualified immunity, particularly in this case where plaintiffs’ complaint was filed pro se. “Rule 12(b)(6) is a mismatch for immunity and almost always a bad ground for dismissal .... [A]nd when defendants do assert immunity it is essential to consider facts in addition to those in the complaint.” Jacobs v. City of Chicago, 215 F.3d 758, 775 (7th Cir.2000) (Easterbrook, J., concurring).
Furthermore, I do not believe that Martin’s damages claim is precluded by 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e). In dicta, the majority appears to support the premise that Martin has no possible damages remedy. This analysis seems to be in conflict with this circuit’s rule as expressed in Calhoun v. DeTella, 319 F.3d 936, 941 (7th Cir.2003), that “ § 1997e(e), as the plain language of *923the statute would suggest, limits recovery ‘for mental and emotional injury,’ but leaves unaffected claims for nominal and punitive damages, which seek to remedy a different type of injury.” Therefore, I would reverse the decision of the district court and remand for further consideration of both plaintiffs’ substantive due process and equal protection claims.