Michael Hartman, Frank Kormann, Pierce McIntosh, Norman Robbins, and Robert Edwards v. William G. Moore, Jr.

Decided April 26, 2006. David Hackett Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 04-1495 · 547 U.S. 250 (2006) · Cited 1,622 times

Holding

A plaintiff in a retaliatory-prosecution action must plead and show the absence of probable cause for pressing the underlying criminal charges.

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 5–2.

“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.

• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• Heck v. Humphrey · 512 U.S. 477 (1994)
• United States v. Armstrong · 517 U.S. 456 (1996)
• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
• Albright v. Oliver · 510 U.S. 266 (1994)
• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• Baker v. McCollan · 443 U.S. 137 (1979)
• Perry v. Sindermann · 408 U.S. 593 (1972)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Carey v. Piphus · 435 U.S. 247 (1978)
• Carlson v. Green · 446 U.S. 14 (1980)
• Bordenkircher v. Hayes · 434 U.S. 357 (1978)
• Wilson v. Layne · 526 U.S. 603 (1999)
• Buckley v. Fitzsimmons · 509 U.S. 259 (1993)
• Burns v. Reed · 500 U.S. 478 (1991)
• Wayte v. United States · 470 U.S. 598 (1985)
• Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee · 525 U.S. 471 (1999)
• National Archives & Records Administration v. Favish · 541 U.S. 157 (2004)

Cited by

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

• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)
• Reichle v. Howards · 566 U.S. 658 (2012)
• Lozman v. Riviera Beach · 585 U.S. 87 (2018)
• Ashcroft v. Iqbal · 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
• Gonzalez v. Trevino · 602 U.S. 653 (2024)
• Manuel v. City of Joliet · 580 U.S. 357 (2017)
• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)
• Houston Community College System v. Wilson · 595 U.S. 468 (2022)
• National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo · 602 U.S. 175 (2024)
• Egbert v. Boule · 596 U.S. 482 (2022)
• League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry · 548 U.S. 399 (2006)
• Hernández v. Mesa · 589 U.S. 93 (2020)

Official text

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

Explore from here

David Hackett Souter’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2006). 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).