09-1454 Camreta v. Greene

Civil Rights
Qualified immunity; appeal

The Court may review a lower court’s constitutional ruling at the behest of government officials who have won final judgment on qualified immunity grounds.

This Article III standard often will be met when immunized officials seek to challenge a determination that their conduct violated the Constitution because that ruling may have prospective effect on the parties. So long as it remains good law, an official who regularly engages in the challenged conduct as part of his job (as Camreta does) must either change the way he performs his duties or risk a meritorious damages action. The official thus can demonstrate injury, causation, and redressability. And conversely, if the person who initially brought the suit may again be subject to the challenged conduct, she has a stake in preserving the court’s holding so that she will have ongoing protection from the practice.

588 F. 3d 1011, vacated in part and remanded.

09-1454 Camreta v. Greene

Kagan, J.; Scalia, J., concurring; Sotomayor, J., concurring; Kennedy, J., dissenting.

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