Harlow v. Fitzgerald

Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court involving the doctrines of qualified immunity and absolute immunity.

Harlow v. Fitzgerald
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 30, 1981 Decided June 24, 1982
Full case name	Bryce Harlow, et al. v. A. Ernest Fitzgerald
Citations	457 U.S. 800 (more) 102 S. Ct. 2727; 73 L. Ed. 2d 396; 1982 U.S. LEXIS 139
Case history
Prior	Cert. to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Holding
Presidential aides were not entitled to absolute immunity, but instead deserved qualified immunity.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority	Powell, joined by Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor
Concurrence	Brennan, joined by Marshall, Blackmun
Concurrence	Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun
Concurrence	Rehnquist
Dissent	Burger

Background

Arthur Ernest Fitzgerald was a deputy for management systems in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. He discovered $2 billion in cost overruns and technical problems in the Lockheed C5-A program that had been concealed by the officials at the Pentagon. He testified before the Joint Economic Committee in Congress and was then blacklisted from roles of any significance.

Following the release of the Watergate tapes, Fitzgerald was mentioned by President Richard Nixon, who boasted that he had been responsible for firing Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald filed a lawsuit against government officials claiming that he lost his position as a contractor with the US Air Force because of his whistleblower testimony made before Congress in 1969. Absolute immunity was claimed by the officials involved, including Nixon and several of his aides, which generated several additional cases that made their way to the Supreme Court. Nixon was named in the lawsuit but was found to have absolute immunity in his role as president, as decided in Nixon v. Fitzgerald.

Harlow v. Fitzgerald examined whether that degree of immunity extended to the President's aides.

Opinion

In an 8–1 decision, the Court held that government officials other than the President were generally entitled to qualified immunity. An official can obtain absolute immunity but must "first show that the responsibilities of his office embraced a function so sensitive as to require a total shield from liability. He must then demonstrate that he was discharging the protected function when performing the act for which liability is asserted."

Despite its immediate application to White House aides, the case is regarded as most important for its revision of the qualified immunity standard that is applicable to government actors, more generally. The Court held that "government officials performing discretionary functions, generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known."

External links

• Text of Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)