Court Opinion

ID: 9454465
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:47:26.033364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:07.884946
License: Public Domain

WATERMAN, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I concur in the holding that plaintiff has a cause of action, albeit a “state-created” cause of action, and which, if the facts he alleges are proven, may not be defeated by the defendants unless they successfully substantiate personal immunities from civil liability. It is my thought that by virtue of 28 U.S.C. § 1331 the federal courts can also entertain this cause of action irrespective of whether a statute exists specifically authorizing a federal suit against federal officers for damages allegedly occasioned by their unnecessarily severe acts. Here they invaded an apartment without any warrant and placed plaintiff in manacles while they conducted a constitutionally impermissible search of the apartment. See 18 U.S.C. § 2234 and 18 U.S.C. § 2236. But see 26 U.S.C. § 7607, since the defendants here are narcotics agents.
The majority point out that the exclusionary rule of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961) was federally promulgated and that federal courts may enjoin federal officers from future acts which, if not enjoined, would violate the provisions of the federal constitution. It seems evident to me, therefore, that, logically, if we should wish to ensure to an individual the fullest protection of his constitutional rights, an action against federal officers for trespassory damages should be maintainable in the federal courts.
Nevertheless, the important point is the recognition that a suit will lie somewhere ; and, if it seems preferable as of now to say that when a citizen has been damaged by a wilful or malicious violation of the federal constitution by federal officers he must rely upon his “state-created” right for his redress and may pursue vindication only in the state courts, I am prepared to concur in that holding.
Even under the doctrine here announced, a federal officer sued in a state court may, of course, at his option, remove the case to the appropriate federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1442, and thereby adjudication of a plaintiff’s action based upon his “state-created” right would, despite our today’s holding, be adjudicated in a federal court.