Richardson v. McKnight

Justice Scalia,

with whom The Chief Justice, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Thomas join, dissenting.

In Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U. S. 555 (1978), we held that state prison officials, including both supervisory and subordinate officers, are entitled to qualified immunity in a suit brought under 42 U. S. C. § 1983. Today the Court declares that this immunity is unavailable to employees of private prison management firms, who perform the same duties as state-employed correctional officials, who exercise the most palpable form of state police power, and who may be sued for acting “under color of…