The following excerpt is from Bruneau ex rel. Schofield v. South Kortright Cent. School Dist., 163 F.3d 749 (2nd Cir. 1998):
The test for determining the applicability of qualified immunity is objective. "If the law at [the time of the official's actions] was not clearly established, an official could not reasonably be expected to anticipate subsequent legal developments, nor could he fairly be said to 'know' that the law forbade conduct not previously identified as unlawful." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). In other words, the right a government official allegedly violated is clearly established when its contours are sufficiently plain so that an official might reasonably be said to know that what he is doing violates that right. See Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987).
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