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Assumed Facts And Blatant Contradictions In Qualified-Immunity Appeals, Bryan Lammon

Georgia Law Review

When a district court denies qualified immunity at summary
judgment, defendants have a limited right to immediately
appeal that decision. In Johnson v. Jones, the U.S. Supreme
Court held that courts hearing these appeals have jurisdiction
to address only whether the facts the district court took as true
in denying immunity amount to a clearly established violation
of federal law. They lack jurisdiction to look behind the facts
that the district court assumed were true to see whether the
evidence supports those facts. Despite this seemingly clear rule,
defendants regularly flout Johnson’s jurisdictional limits,
taking improper appeals that create extra …