Harlow et al. v. Fitzgerald (457 U.S. 800)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 24, 1982 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 457 U.S. 800 · 102 S. Ct. 2727
- Decided
- June 24, 1982
- Term
- October Term 1981
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Powell
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Powell delivered the opinion of the Court. The issue in this case is the scope of the immunity available to the senior aides and advisers of the President of the United States in a suit for damages based upon their official acts. I In this suit for civil damages petitioners Bryce Harlow and Alexander Butterfield are alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to violate the constitutional and statutory rights of the respondent A. Ernest Fitzgerald. Respondent avers that petitioners entered the conspiracy in their capacities as senior White House aides to former President Richard M. Nixon. As the alleged conspiracy is the same as that involved in Nixon v. Fitzgerald, ante, p. 731, the facts need not be repeated in detail. Respondent claims that Harlow joined the conspiracy in his role as the Presidential aide principally responsible for congressional relations. At the conclusion of discovery the supporting evidence remained inferential. As evidence of Harlow’s conspiratorial activity respondent relies heavily on a series of conversations in which Harlow discussed Fitzgerald’s dismissal with Air Force Secretary Robert Seamans. The other evidence most supportive of Fitzgerald’s claims consists of a recorded conversation in which the President later voiced a tentative recollection that Harlow was “all for canning” Fitzgerald. Disputing Fitzgerald’s contentions, Harlow…
Excerpt of a 59,587-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.