Jeffrey L. Poulakis v. Michael Rogers

I respectfully dissent from the Court’s opinion. I agree with the district court that Officer Rogers and Sgt. Stender lacked arguable probable cause to arrest Poulakis for violating Florida’s concealed weapons law. I would reverse, however, because in my judgment the district court erred in concluding that advice of counsel could transform a patently unreasonable arrest into a reasonable one.

My principal disagreement with the majority’s analysis is that it treats arguable probable cause as part of the clearly established prong of the qualified immunity analysis, when both Eleventh Circuit…