§1983 Civil Rights Litigation Colloquium

Abstract

The two authors discuss and analyze the § 1983 Civil Rights cases that were decided by the United States Supreme Court during the October 2002 term. To facilitate their discussion, the authors group the cases into five categories. The discussion of that term’s cases starts with the issue of supplemental jurisdiction and the Jinks v. Richland County decision, and then moves to the issue of coercive interrogation in Chavez v. Martinez. The authors then address the two “Megan's Law” decisions rendered that term, Smith v. Doe and Conn. Dep't. of Pub. Safety v. Doe. In addition, the authors analyze a prisoners' rights case decided that term, Overton v. Bazzetta, and cases involving punitive damages that arose in that term: State Farm v. Campbell, Romo v. Ford Motor Co., and Wei Zhang v. Am. Gem Seafoods, Inc. The Article concludes by addressing some of the then-pending cases on the Supreme Court docket.

Keywords: U.S. Supreme Court, Section 1983 litigation, civil rights, supplemental jurisdiction, coercive interrogation, qualified immunity, Meghan's Law, prisoners' rights, punitive damages