The U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to continue pulling back on when federal law enforcement and other officials can be sued for constitutional violations.
The justices heard argument on Wednesday in a case involving the shifting law surrounding so-called Bivens actions—a judge-made rule that allows some suits to move forward.
The current conservative-majority court has seen Bivens as a relic, saying such actions are “disfavored” and should not be extended to new contexts, like those with national security implications.
The case tests whether any Bivens actions remain—given that the dispute before the justices now and the suit allowed in Bivens involved allegations of excessive force by law enforcement.
As Justice Stephen Breyer put it, is the court refusing to extend Bivens or is it cutting back on what Bivens was thought to mean?
The case is Egbert v. Boule, U.S., No. 21-147.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at [email protected]; John Crawley at jcrawley@bloomberglaw.
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