Williams v. Treen’s Empirical Analysis
671 F.2d 892 · 1982
Citation profile
35 federal appellate · 6 district · 6 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 81 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2007 · most notably Davis v. Scherer (1984), Ruiz v. Estelle (1982)
35 federal appellate · 6 district · 6 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Scheuer v. Rhodes · Estelle v. Gamble · Gregg v. Georgia · Imbler v. Pachtman · Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al.
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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“We believe that prison “... officials are charged with knowledge of their own prison regulations.” Chavis v. Rowe, 643 F.2d 1281, 1289 (7th Cir.1981) and that they “may not take solace in ostrichism.” Id. If an official’s conduct contravenes his own state’s explicit and clearly established regulations, a subjective belief in the lawfulness of his action is per se unreasonable.... To hold otherwise would be to encourage official ignorance of the law. We of course recognize that a § 1983 plaintiff must allege a deprivation of a federally protected right in order to set forth a prima facie case, Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U.S. 1 , 100 S.Ct. 2502 , 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980); violation of state law alone does not give rise to a cause of action under § 1983. Bills v. Henderson, 631 F.2d 1287 (6th Cir.1980). We believe that our conclusion regarding the immunity defense in this case is entirely consistent with this well established principle. The § 1983 cause of action in this case is based upon the fact that the federal constitutional rights of these inmates were violated-.... At this juncture, the only question before the court is whether the defendant officials are entitled to the special protections of a qualified immunity. We hold that when a state official violates the constitutional rights of a citizen, and in so doing also violates clearly established state law which enforces those rights, the defendant official is not entitled to an immunity which is based upon reasonable good fait”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Jensen v. Conrad“A qualified immunity can only be claimed by those officials whose positions require the exercise of official discretion. Jackson v. State of Mississippi, 644 F.2d 1142, 1145 (5th Cir.1981); Douthit v. Jones, 619 F.2d 527, 533 (5th Cir.1980); Cruz v. Beto, 603 F.2d 1178, 1184 (5th Cir.1979). To claim the immunity, an official must show that the allegedly wrongful actions "... were undertaken pursuant to the performance of his duties and within the scope of his discretionary authority." Barker v. Norman, 651 F.2d 1107, 1124-1125 (5th Cir.1981). Once it has been established that a 1983 defendant was acting within the scope of his discretionary authority, Procunier v. Navarette, supra , sets forth a two prong standard to be used in determining whether the defendant is immune from liability. This dual test calls for both an objective and subjective evaluation of official conduct. Barker v. Norman, 651 F.2d 1107, 1125-1127 (5th Cir.1981); Clanton v. New Orleans Parish School Board, 649 F.2d 1084, 1100 (5th Cir.1981); Dilmore v. Stubbs, 636 F.2d 966, 968 (5th Cir.1981); Bryan v. Jones, 530 F.2d 1210, 1214 (5th Cir.1976) ( en banc ). Under the subjective portion of the Procunier test, an official forfeits his immunity when he acts "with the malicious intent to cause a deprivation of constitutional rights or other injury." Dilmore v. Stubbs, 636 F.2d 966, 968 (5th Cir.1981). Under the objective standard, "[an] official, even if he is acting in the sincere subjective belief that he is ”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State . . ., subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States ... to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress”
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.