Thompson v. Clark

Decided April 4, 2022. Brett M. Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 20-659 · 596 U.S. 36 (2022) · Cited 766 times

Holding

Petitioner Thompson’s showing that his criminal prosecution ended without a conviction satisfies the requirement to demonstrate a favorable termination of a criminal prosecution in a Fourth Amendment claim under 42 U. S. C. §1983 for malicious prosecution; an affirmative indication of innocence is not needed.

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. 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.

• Albright v. Oliver · 510 U.S. 266 (1994)
• Manuel v. City of Joliet · 580 U.S. 357 (2017)
• Heck v. Humphrey · 512 U.S. 477 (1994)
• Whren v. United States · 517 U.S. 806 (1996)
• Wallace v. Kato · 549 U.S. 384 (2007)
• Gerstein v. Pugh · 420 U.S. 103 (1975)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)

Cited by

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

• Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon · 602 U.S. 556 (2024)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2022). 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).