Larry Hope v. Mark Pelzer et al.

Decided June 27, 2002. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 01-309 · 536 U.S. 730 (2002) · Cited 4,957 times

Holding

The defense of qualified immunity was precluded at the summary judgment phase.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• United States v. Lanier · 520 U.S. 259 (1997)
• Anderson v. Creighton · 483 U.S. 635 (1987)
• Malley v. Briggs · 475 U.S. 335 (1986)
• Whitley v. Albers · 475 U.S. 312 (1986)
• Hudson v. McMillian · 503 U.S. 1 (1992)
• Rhodes v. Chapman · 452 U.S. 337 (1981)
• Trop v. Dulles · 356 U.S. 86 (1958)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Wilson v. Layne · 526 U.S. 603 (1999)

Cited by

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

• Tolan v. Cotton · 572 U.S. 650 (2014)
• Kisela v. Hughes · 584 U.S. 100 (2018)
• Mullenix v. Luna · 577 U.S. 7 (2015)
• Brosseau v. Haugen · 543 U.S. 194 (2004)
• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)
• Taylor v. Riojas · 592 U.S. 7 (2020)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)
• Pearson v. Callahan · 555 U.S. 223 (2009)
• Hudson v. Michigan · 547 U.S. 586 (2006)
• Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)
• Branch v. Smith · 538 U.S. 254 (2003)
• Andrew v. White · 604 U.S. 86 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2002). 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).