Bunting v. Mellen

C. A. 4th Cir. Certiorari denied.

Opinion of

Justice Stevens, with whom Justice Ginsburg and Justice Breyer join,

respecting the denial of certiorari.

The “perceived procedural tangle” described by Justice SCALIA’s dissent, post, at 1022, is a byproduct of an unwise judge-made rule under which courts must decide whether the plaintiff has alleged a constitutional violation before addressing the question whether the defendant state actor is entitled to qualified immunity. Justice Breyer and I both questioned the wisdom of an inflexible rule requiring the premature adjudication of constitutional…