Barbara Hafer v. James C. Melo, Jr., et al.

Decided November 5, 1991. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-681 · 502 U.S. 21 (1991) · Cited 4,063 times

Holding

State officers may be held personally liable for damages under § 1983 based upon actions taken in their official capacities.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 8–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Kentucky v. Graham · 473 U.S. 159 (1985)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Forrester v. White · 484 U.S. 219 (1988)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co. · 457 U.S. 922 (1982)
• Davis v. Passman · 442 U.S. 228 (1979)
• Burns v. Reed · 500 U.S. 478 (1991)
• United States v. Bass · 404 U.S. 336 (1971)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Lewis v. Clarke · 581 U.S. 155 (2017)
• Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona · 520 U.S. 43 (1997)
• Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States Ex Rel. Stevens · 529 U.S. 765 (2000)
• Wyatt v. Cole · 504 U.S. 158 (1992)
• Gutierrez De Martinez v. Lamagno · 515 U.S. 417 (1995)
• Hilton v. South Carolina Public Railways Commission · 502 U.S. 197 (1991)
• Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia · 517 U.S. 186 (1996)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1991). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).