Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982)

E403303

United States Supreme Court case landmark qualified immunity case

Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that redefined qualified immunity by holding that government officials are shielded from civil liability so long as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Harlow et al. v. Fitzgerald	1
Harlow v. Fitzgerald	1
Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) canonical	1

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States Supreme Court case ⓘ landmark qualified immunity case ⓘ
appliedIn	Bivens-type actions for damages ⓘ Section 1983 actions by analogy ⓘ
appliesTo	federal executive officials performing discretionary functions ⓘ
areaOfLaw	civil rights litigation ⓘ constitutional law ⓘ federal courts and procedure ⓘ
citation	457 U.S. 800 ⓘ
citationInLaterCases	Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635 (1987) ⓘ Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511 (1985) ⓘ Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009) ⓘ Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194 (2001) ⓘ
concurrenceBy	Harry A. Blackmun ⓘ surface form: Justice Harry A. Blackmun Thurgood Marshall ⓘ surface form: Justice Thurgood Marshall William J. Brennan Jr. ⓘ surface form: Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decisionDate	1982-06-24 ⓘ
dissentBy	William H. Rehnquist ⓘ surface form: Justice William H. Rehnquist
docketNumber	80-945 ⓘ
doesNotApplyTo	President of the United States ⓘ surface form: the President of the United States
effectOnLitigation	facilitated early resolution of insubstantial claims on summary judgment ⓘ
fullCaseName	Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Harlow et al. v. Fitzgerald
holding	Government officials performing discretionary functions are shielded from civil damages liability as long as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. ⓘ
impact	redefined the modern doctrine of qualified immunity in U.S. law ⓘ
joinedByInMajority	Warren E. Burger ⓘ surface form: Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Byron R. White ⓘ surface form: Justice Byron R. White Harry A. Blackmun ⓘ surface form: Justice Harry A. Blackmun Sandra Day O’Connor ⓘ surface form: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Thurgood Marshall ⓘ surface form: Justice Thurgood Marshall William H. Rehnquist ⓘ surface form: Justice William H. Rehnquist William J. Brennan Jr. ⓘ surface form: Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
jurisdiction	federal question jurisdiction ⓘ
keyPhrase	clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known ⓘ
legalIssue	civil liability for constitutional violations ⓘ qualified immunity of government officials ⓘ
majorityOpinionBy	Lewis F. Powell Jr. ⓘ surface form: Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.
overruledOrModifiedPriorLaw	subjective good-faith component of qualified immunity ⓘ
petitioner	Harlow ⓘ
proceduralPosture	appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ⓘ
reasoningFocus	balancing the need to hold public officials accountable with the need to shield them from harassment and distraction ⓘ
relatedCase	Nixon v. Fitzgerald ⓘ surface form: Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
relatedDoctrine	absolute immunity for the President from civil damages liability for official acts ⓘ
replacedSubjectiveStandardWith	purely objective test based on clearly established law ⓘ
respondent	A. Ernest Fitzgerald ⓘ
standardEstablished	clearly established law standard for qualified immunity ⓘ
standardType	objective reasonableness standard ⓘ
term	October Term 1981 ⓘ

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

42 U.S.C. § 1983 → interpretedBy → Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) ⓘ

United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court → hasNotableCase → Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) ⓘ

this entity surface form: Harlow v. Fitzgerald

Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) → fullCaseName → Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Harlow et al. v. Fitzgerald