Leon Barcley Stusalitus v. Angelique Ortiz, et al.

This case concerns the “Proxy Affiant” loophole: a practice where law enforcement officers avoid Fourth Amendment liability for obtaining warrants on unverified information by having a private citizen sign the formal affidavit, even when state law requires law-enforcement agency authorization to issue the warrant. The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment by holding that the officer's failure to investigate and abuse of authority were irrelevant because she was not the “affiant.”

1. Whether the “objective unreasonableness” standard established in Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335 (1986), applies to an officer who “procures” or “authorizes” a warrant through a mandatory sign-off procedure, or whether an officer is shielded from Fourth Amendment liability whenever the formal affidavit is signed by a private citizen rather than the officer herself.

2. Whether, at the summary judgment stage, a court may find an officer’s conduct “objectively reasonable” as a matter of law by recharacterizing the non-moving party’s explicit denial of the underlying allegations as “non-categorical” or “conclusory,” thereby resolving genuine disputes of material fact and making credibility determinations in violation of Tolan v. Cotton, 572 U.S. 650 (2014).