Legal Opinion
Grace Olech v. Village of Willowbrook
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Decided November 12, 1998No. 98-2235PublishedCited by 75 opinions
1Opinion of the Court
POSNER, Chief Judge.
In Esmail v. Macrane, 53 F.3d 176 (7th Cir.1995), we held that the equal protection clause provides a remedy when “a powerful public official picked on a person out of sheer vindictiveness.” Id. at 178. Although the clause is more commonly invoked on behalf of a person who either belongs to a vulnerable minority or is harmed by an irrational difference in treatment, it can also be invoked, we held, by a person who can prove that “action taken by the state, whether in the form of prosecution or otherwise, was a spiteful effort to ‘get’ him for reasons wholly unrelated to…
2Cases cited16 opinions
- Oyler v. BolesSupreme Court of the United States · 1962
- First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los AngelesSupreme Court of the United States · 1987
- Connecticut v. DoehrSupreme Court of the United States · 1991
- Harmasse Leclair and Elizabeth Leclair, Appellees-Cross-Appellants v. William Saunders, Appellant-Cross-AppelleeCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1980
- Basim Esmail, Zabco Enterprises, Incorporated, and Nazco Enterprises, Incorporated v. Samuel T. MacRane Jr.Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1995
11 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by75 opinions
- Village of Willowbrook v. OlechSupreme Court of the United States · 2000
- Hu v. City of New YorkCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 2019
- Griffin Industries, Inc. v. IrvinCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2007
- Joseph H. Levenstein v. Bernard Salafsky, Patricia A. Gill, and David C. Broski, in Their Individual CapacitiesCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1998
- Srail v. Village of Lisle, Ill.Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2009
70 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.