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Aleashia Clarkston, et al. v. John White

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 18-31099 · judgment December 4, 2019


Certiorari denied · May 18, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, counsel with five or more prior petitions here, and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Question presented

In an action under section 1983, government officials are entitled to qualified immunity if their conduct did not violate a clearly established constitutional right. The question presented is: Did the Fifth Circuit err in holding that there is a second type of qualified immunity—that government officials are also entitled to qualified immunity, even when they violate clearly established constitutional rights, and “no matter how unconstitutional their motives,” if it was unclear at the time of the violation whether relief was available in an action “under section 1983” for the injuries caused by those constitutional violations?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Eric Schnapper
Univ. of Washington School of Law

For respondent
William David Coffey
Louisiana Department of Justice, AG's Office

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. May 18 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 22 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/15/2020.
  3. Mar 31 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent John White to respond filed.
  4. Mar 03 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 6, 2020)