Margaret S. Rodriguez v. Donald E. Ritchey

Purporting to rely on the Supreme Court’s decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents,1 the majority has today fashioned a federal common law cause of action against a federal officer who has neither violated the Constitution nor even committed a common law tort. They have held that a federal law enforcement officer who participates in a criminal investigation culminating in a federal grand jury indictment can be held answerable in money damages to one indicted and subsequently arrested. The officer is said to be subject to liability even though the indictment is lawfully returned and the…