Albright v. Oliver
- Decided
- January 24, 1994
- Docket
- 92-833
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 7,028 timesOverruled on other grounds (not yet verified)Possible negative treatment: overruled on other grounds (not yet verified) · Brown 712722 v. Tribble
What later courts said
- holding that a § 1983 claim for prosecution without probable cause arises under the Fourth Amendment not substantive due process — Bernard v. County of Suffolk (2004)
- holding that plaintiffs malicious prosecution claim arises under the Fourth Amendment rather than substantive due process — Graham v. City of New York (2012)
- recognizing that an alleged deprivation of the right to be free from prosecution without probable cause might be judged under the Fourth Amendment — Colon-Andino v. Toledo-Davila (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 announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which Justice O’Connor, Justice Scalia, and Justice Ginsburg join.
A warrant was issued for petitioner’s arrest by Illinois authorities, and upon learning of it he surrendered and was released on bail. The prosecution was later dismissed on the ground that the charge did not state an offense under Illinois law. Petitioner asks us to recognize a substantive right under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to be free from criminal prosecution except upon probable cause. We decline to do so.
We review a decision of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirming the grant of a motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), and we must therefore accept the well-pleaded allegations of the complaint as true. Illinois authorities issued an arrest warrant for petitioner Kevin Albright, charging him on the basis of a previously filed criminal information with the sale of a substance which looked like an illegal drug. When he learned of the outstanding warrant, petitioner surrendered to respondent, Roger Oliver, a police detective employed by the city of Macomb, but denied his guilt of such an offense. He was released after posting bond, one of the conditions of which was that he not leave the State without permission of the court.[1]
Statutes cited
Cite this
Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266 (1994)Read the full opinion
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