Cortez v. McCauley’s Empirical Analysis
438 F.3d 980 · 2006
Citation profile
14 federal appellate · 7 district ·
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Miranda v. State of Arizona Vignera · Terry v. Ohio · Graham v. Connor · Malley v. Briggs · Duncan v. Walker
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Discovery should not be allowed until the court resolves the threshold question whether the law was clearly established at the time the allegedly unlawful action occurred. The question is purely legal, and a court cannot avoid answering the question by framing it as factual. The court must first determine whether the actions defendants allegedly took are actions that a reasonable person could have believed lawful. If the actions are those that a reasonable person could have believed were lawful, defendants are entitled to dismissal before discovery. If the actions are not those that a reasonable person could have believed were lawful, then discovery may be necessary before a motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds can be resolved. However, any such discovery must be tailored specifically to the immunity question.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[O]nce the predicate facts have been established, for the purposes of qualified immunity there is no such thing as a “genuine issue of fact” as to whether the officer “should have known” that his conduct violated constitutional rights. The conduct was either “reasonable] under settled law in the circumstances,” or it was not....”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Gomes v. Wood · Gomes“Ordinarily, in order for the law to be clearly established, there must be a Supreme Court or Tenth Circuit decision on point, or the clearly established weight of authority from other courts must have found the law to be as the plaintiff maintains.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.