Walter A. Bernard v. Philip A. Ignelzi, Individually and as Judge, Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

In Lo-Ji Sales, Inc. v. New York, 442 U.S. 319, 327 (1979), this Court held that a state judge who participated in the execution of a search “allowed himself to become a member, if not the leader, of the search party,” and “was not acting as a judicial officer, but as an adjunct law enforcement officer.” The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Circuits apply that principle to deny absolute immunity to judges who personally direct or supervise officers in conducting arrests. The Third Circuit below parted company with its sister circuits in refusing to withhold judicial immunity for actions indistinguishable from a sheriff’s in directing Petitioner’s warrantless arrest in his home. The question presented is: Whether absolute judicial immunity bars a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against a state trial judge who personally directs and supervises police officers in conducting a warrantless arrest of a litigant inside the litigant’s home.