What is the test for determining whether a police officer's conduct violated a constitutional right?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from Ellesbury v. Fernandez, No. 2: 18-cv-2744 KJM KJN P (E.D. Cal. 2020):

favorable to the party asserting the injury, do the facts alleged show the officer's conduct violated a constitutional right?" Id. at 201. If "a violation could be made out on a favorable view of the parties' submissions, the next, sequential step is to ask whether the right was clearly established." Id. To be "clearly established," "[t]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right." Id. at 202 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Accordingly, for the purposes of the second prong, the dispositive inquiry "is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted." Id. Courts have the discretion to decide which prong to address first, in light of the particular circumstances of each case. See Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 236 (2009).

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