Nieves v. Bartlett
Decided May 28, 2019. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 17-1174 · 587 U.S. 391 (2019) · Cited 1,018 times
Holding
Because police officers had probable cause to arrest Bartlett, his First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim fails as a matter of law.
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
Majority · 6
- John G. Roberts, Jr. · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Clarence Thomas · filed an opinion concurring in the judgment
- Samuel A. Alito, Jr.
- Elena Kagan
- Brett M. Kavanaugh
- Stephen G. Breyer
Concurring in part, dissenting in part · 2
- Neil M. Gorsuch · filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg · filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part
Dissenting · 1
- Sonia Sotomayor · filed a dissenting opinion
“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).
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.
- Hartman v. Moore · 547 U.S. 250 (2006)
- United States v. Armstrong · 517 U.S. 456 (1996)
- Lozman v. Riviera Beach · 585 U.S. 87 (2018)
- Reichle v. Howards · 566 U.S. 658 (2012)
- Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
- Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
- Devenpeck v. Alford · 543 U.S. 146 (2004)
- Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
- Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
- Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
- Whren v. United States · 517 U.S. 806 (1996)
- Ashcroft v. al-Kidd · 563 U.S. 731 (2011)
- Wallace v. Kato · 549 U.S. 384 (2007)
- Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
- Graham v. Connor · 490 U.S. 386 (1989)
- Heck v. Humphrey · 512 U.S. 477 (1994)
- Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
- Malley v. Briggs · 475 U.S. 335 (1986)
- Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
- Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
- Kentucky v. King · 563 U.S. 452 (2011)
- City of Houston v. Hill · 482 U.S. 451 (1987)
- Kalina v. Fletcher · 522 U.S. 118 (1997)
- Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
- Director General of Railroads v. Kastenbaum · 263 U.S. 25 (1923)
- District of Columbia v. Wesby · 583 U.S. 48 (2018)
- Manuel v. City of Joliet · 580 U.S. 357 (2017)
- Foster v. Chatman · 578 U.S. 488 (2016)
- Cooper v. Harris · 581 U.S. 285 (2017)
- Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm'n · 584 U.S. 617 (2018)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Gonzalez v. Trevino · 602 U.S. 653 (2024)
Official text
Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)
Explore from here
John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2019). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).