Laura Covington v. City of Madisonville, Texas

To obtain relief against a municipality under §1983, a plaintiff must show an official policy from a policymaker was the moving force behind a violation of a constitutional right. The question of whether an official is a policymaker is a matter of state law. Does this Court’s precedent require a plaintiff to overcome a presumption that a police chief is not an official policymaker to prove the municipality delegated policymaking authority to the police chief over the discrete police activity that caused the constitutional violation?