Qualified Immunity, Without Qualification

The hapless plaintiff in Villarreal v. City of Laredo continues to be out of court. After winning in the Supreme Court on the viability of her First Amendment retaliation claim, the Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal based on qualified immunity.

The majority opinion emphasized that the events in question occurred in 2017, predating a 2019 Supreme Court decision on the topic; as of 2017, the Supreme Court’s precedent held that there was no clearly established right to be free from a retaliatory arrest supported by probable cause.

A concurrence questioned whether qualified immunity should apply when the constitutional right is clear but the remedy is not, suggesting that the rationale for qualified immunity may not hold in cases where officials have ample time to make decisions, as opposed to split-second judgments.

A dissent argued that in light of the Supreme Court’s opinion, remand to the trial court for consideration in the first instance of qualified immunity was appropriate. No. 20-40359, Apr. 8, 2025.