Difference between revisions of "Absolute immunity"
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'''Absolute immunity''' protects someone, typically a [[government]] official, against a lawsuit for damages, regardless of wrongdoing. Its most common form is '''absolute judicial immunity'''. | '''Absolute immunity''' protects someone, typically a [[government]] official, against a lawsuit for damages, regardless of wrongdoing. Its most common form is '''absolute judicial immunity'''. | ||
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| + | Judges, while acting within judicial discretion, and prosecutors, while engaging in prosecutorial rather than investigative actives, enjoy absolute immunity. | ||
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| + | "This immunity reflects the long-standing 'general principle of the highest importance to the proper administration of justice that a judicial officer, in exercising the authority vested in him, shall be free to act upon his own convictions, without apprehension of personal consequences to himself.'" ''Olsen v. Idaho State Bd. of Med.'', 363 F.3d 916, 922 (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting ''Bradley v. Fisher'', 80 U.S. 335, 13 Wall. 335, 347, 20 L. Ed. 646 (1871)). | ||
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[[Category:Legal Terms]] | [[Category:Legal Terms]] | ||
Revision as of 23:44, April 26, 2024
Absolute immunity protects someone, typically a government official, against a lawsuit for damages, regardless of wrongdoing. Its most common form is absolute judicial immunity.
Judges, while acting within judicial discretion, and prosecutors, while engaging in prosecutorial rather than investigative actives, enjoy absolute immunity.
"This immunity reflects the long-standing 'general principle of the highest importance to the proper administration of justice that a judicial officer, in exercising the authority vested in him, shall be free to act upon his own convictions, without apprehension of personal consequences to himself.'" Olsen v. Idaho State Bd. of Med., 363 F.3d 916, 922 (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting Bradley v. Fisher, 80 U.S. 335, 13 Wall. 335, 347, 20 L. Ed. 646 (1871)).