Siegert v. Gilley
- Decided
- May 23, 1991
- Docket
- 90-96
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 2,725 timesOverruled in part on other grounds (not yet verified)Possible negative treatment: overruled in part on other grounds (not yet verified) · Meyer v. State
What later courts said
- holding that defendant is entitled to qualified immunity because plaintiff "failed to allege the violation of a clearly established constitutional right" — (untitled) (1995)
- holding that the appellate court should not have assumed, without deciding, the constitutional question and characterizing this question as a "necessary concomitant" to the second inquiry — Douglas McClish v. Richard B. Nugent (2007)
- recognizing that “injury to reputation by itself is not a ‘liberty’ interest protected under the Fourteenth Amendment” — Iota Xi Chapter of Sigma Chi Fraternity v. Patterson (2009)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
We granted certiorari in this case to determine whether the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit properly directed dismissal of petitioner’s Bivens claim on the grounds that he had not overcome respondent’s claim of qualified immunity. The Court of Appeals relied on its “heightened pleading standard,” but we hold that petitioner’s claim failed at an analytically earlier stage of the inquiry into qualified immunity: His allegations, even if accepted as true, did not state a claim for violation of any rights secured to him under the United States Constitution.
Petitioner Frederick A. Siegert, a clinical psychologist, was employed at St. Elizabeths Hospital, a Federal Government facility in Washington, D. C., from November 1979 to October 1985. He was a behavior therapy coordinator specializing in work with mentally retarded children and, to a lesser extent, with adults. In January 1985, respondent H. [*228] Melvyn Gilley became head of the division for which Siegert worked.
Statutes cited
Cite this
Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226 (1991)Read the full opinion
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