Smith ex rel. Smith v. Nixon

Opinion for the Court filed by

Circuit Justice SCALIA. *54SCALIA, Circuit Justice:

This suit for damages and equitable relief against several former and current federal officials arises out of an 89-day illegal wiretap of reporter Hedrick Smith’s home telephone in 1969. The District Court granted summary judgment to the officials on qualified immunity grounds without resolving appellants’ pending discovery requests. This is the second of three cases we decide today in which resolution of the officials’ qualified immunity, defense turns on the validity of their assertions that their actions were…