What is the test for granting qualified immunity from liability for civil damages in a civil case brought by a police officer who searched a vehicle during a search?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from Vaughan v. Ricketts, 859 F.2d 736 (9th Cir. 1988):

Government officials performing discretionary functions enjoy a qualified immunity from liability for civil damages so long as their conduct does not violate "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). The Harlow test focuses upon the "objective reasonableness" of the official's conduct. Id. Ricketts is entitled to summary judgment granting him qualified immunity if he can establish that "a reasonable officer could have believed that the search comported with [the Constitution] even though it actually did not." Anderson v. Creighton, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3036, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). For a finding that the right was "clearly established" at the time the action was taken, "the contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right." Id. 107 S.Ct. at 3039.

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