Tyson Johnson, et al. v. Houston Jones

Decided June 12, 1995. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 94-455 · 515 U.S. 304 (1995) · Cited 2,857 times

Holding

A defendant, entitled to invoke a qualified immunity defense, may not appeal a district court’s summary judgment order insofar as that order determines whether or not the pretrial record sets forth a “genuine” issue of fact for trial.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · 477 U.S. 242 (1986)
• Pierce v. Underwood · 487 U.S. 552 (1988)
• Richardson-Merrell Inc. v. Koller Ex Rel. Koller · 472 U.S. 424 (1985)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin · 417 U.S. 156 (1974)
• Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay · 437 U.S. 463 (1978)
• Swint v. Chambers County Commission · 514 U.S. 35 (1995)
• Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Risjord · 449 U.S. 368 (1981)
• Flanagan v. United States · 465 U.S. 259 (1984)
• Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc. · 511 U.S. 863 (1994)
• Dickinson v. Petroleum Conversion Corp. · 338 U.S. 507 (1950)

Cited by

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

• Ashcroft v. Iqbal · 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
• Plumhoff v. Rickard · 572 U.S. 765 (2014)
• Behrens v. Pelletier · 516 U.S. 299 (1996)
• Ortiz v. Jordan · 562 U.S. 180 (2011)
• Johnson v. Fankell · 520 U.S. 911 (1997)
• Shoop v. Twyford · 596 U.S. 811 (2022)
• Osborn v. Haley · 549 U.S. 225 (2007)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. · 526 U.S. 687 (1999)
• Richardson v. McKnight · 521 U.S. 399 (1997)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1995). 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).