Davis et al. v. Scherer

Decided June 28, 1984. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 83-490 · 468 U.S. 183 (1984) · Cited 2,605 times

Holding

A plaintiff who seeks damages for violation of constitutional or statutory rights may overcome the defendant official's qualified immunity only by showing that those rights were clearly established at the time of the conduct at issue.

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 5–4.

“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.

• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Arnett v. Kennedy · 416 U.S. 134 (1974)
• Butz v. Economou · 438 U.S. 478 (1978)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• Perry v. Sindermann · 408 U.S. 593 (1972)
• Wood v. Strickland · 420 U.S. 308 (1975)
• Phillips v. Commissioner · 283 U.S. 589 (1931)
• Grannis v. Ordean · 234 U.S. 385 (1914)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Wolff v. McDonnell · 418 U.S. 539 (1974)
• Goldberg v. Kelly · 397 U.S. 254 (1970)
• Stanley v. Illinois · 405 U.S. 645 (1972)
• Fuentes v. Shevin · 407 U.S. 67 (1972)
• Connally v. General Construction Co. · 269 U.S. 385 (1926)
• Boddie v. Connecticut · 401 U.S. 371 (1971)
• Goss v. Lopez · 419 U.S. 565 (1975)
• Bishop v. Wood · 426 U.S. 341 (1976)
• Armstrong v. Manzo · 380 U.S. 545 (1965)
• Bell v. Burson · 402 U.S. 535 (1971)
• Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath · 341 U.S. 123 (1951)
• Maine v. Thiboutot · 448 U.S. 1 (1980)
• Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp. of Bay View · 395 U.S. 337 (1969)
• Wisconsin v. Constantineau · 400 U.S. 433 (1971)
• Golden v. Zwickler · 394 U.S. 103 (1969)
• Procunier v. Navarette · 434 U.S. 555 (1978)
• Codd v. Velger · 429 U.S. 624 (1977)
• Wieman v. Updegraff · 344 U.S. 183 (1952)
• Leroy v. Great Western United Corp. · 443 U.S. 173 (1979)

Cited by

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

• Elder v. Holloway · 510 U.S. 510 (1994)
• Anderson v. Creighton · 483 U.S. 635 (1987)
• Hunter v. Bryant · 502 U.S. 224 (1991)
• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill · 470 U.S. 532 (1985)
• United States v. Lanier · 520 U.S. 259 (1997)
• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Reichle v. Howards · 566 U.S. 658 (2012)
• Siegert v. Gilley · 500 U.S. 226 (1991)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• Forrester v. White · 484 U.S. 219 (1988)
• Behrens v. Pelletier · 516 U.S. 299 (1996)
• First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles · 482 U.S. 304 (1987)
• Illinois v. Krull · 480 U.S. 340 (1987)
• Felder v. Casey · 487 U.S. 131 (1988)
• Livadas v. Bradshaw · 512 U.S. 107 (1994)
• O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1984). 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).