Harlow v. Fitzgerald
In Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 815 (1982), the U.S. Supreme Court held that "[i]f the law is clearly established, the [qualified] immunity defense will ordinarily fail, since a reasonably competent public official should know the law governing his conduct."
The case arose from a lawsuit for civil damages alleging that petitioners Bryce Harlow and Alexander Butterfield participated in a conspiracy to violate the constitutional and statutory rights of the respondent A. Ernest Fitzgerald. Respondent claimed that petitioners entered the conspiracy in their capacities as senior White House aides to former President Richard M. Nixon. The Court found that defendants could assert immunity from liability because they acted in their official capacities, and that bareboned allegations of malice did not overcome that immunity. Justice Powell wrote:
- "we conclude today that bare allegations of malice should not suffice to subject government officials either to the costs of trial or to the burdens of broad-reaching discovery. We therefore hold that government officials performing discretionary functions, generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known."
Justice Lewis Powell wrote the opinion for the Court, which had several brief concurrences seeking to overturn different precedents. For example, Justice William Rehnquist wrote:
- "At such time as a majority of the Court is willing to reexamine our holding in Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478 (1978), I shall join in that undertaking with alacrity. But until that time comes, I agree that the Court's opinion in this case properly disposes of the issues presented, and I therefore join it.
The Court also ruled that:
- "Until this threshold immunity question is resolved, discovery should not be allowed."
Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 817 (1982).
There was only one dissent, by Chief Justice Warren Burger.
