Bob Camreta, Petitioner v. Sarah Greene, Personally and As Next Friend of S. G., a Minor, and K. G., a Minor (563 U.S. 692)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 26, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 563 U.S. 692 · 131 S. Ct. 2020
- Decided
- May 26, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court. Almost a decade ago, a state child protective services worker and a county deputy sheriff interviewed a girl at her elementary school in Oregon about allegations that her father had sexually abused her. The girl’s mother subsequently sued the government officials on the child’s behalf for damages under Rev. Stat. § 1979,42 U. S. C. § 1983, claiming that the interview infringed the Fourth Amendment. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed, ruling that the officials had violated the Constitution by failing to obtain a warrant to conduct the interview. But the Court of Appeals further held that qualified immunity shielded the officials from monetary liability because the constitutional right at issue was not clearly established under existing law. The two officials sought this Court’s review of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling on the Fourth Amendment. We granted their petitions to examine two questions. First, may government officials who prevail on grounds of qualified immunity obtain our review of a court of appeals’ decision that their conduct violated the Constitution? And second, if we may consider cases in this procedural posture, did the Ninth Circuit correctly determine that this interview breached the Fourth Amendment? We conclude that this Court generally may review a lower court’s constitutional…
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