Bruce Walker v. Estate of Ryan L. Clark

The Seventh Circuit upheld the denial of qualified immunity to a Green Lake County jail officer on a claim that, in the context of initially booking an inmate into the jail, he violated the constitutional rights of the inmate, who later committed suicide. In determining whether the right in question was “clearly established,” the court of appeals thought it sufficient that there is a right under the Eighth Amendment to be free from deliberate indifference to a risk of suicide. The case presents two questions:

1. Whether the court of appeals defined the constitutional right in question at too high a level of generality, contrary to this Court’s teachings on qualified immunity?

2. Whether the court of appeals correctly held that Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304 (1995), precluded its consideration of aspects of petitioner’s appeal from the denial of qualified immunity? (i)