Mixed Signals on Summary Judgment
16 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2014
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Mixed Signals on Summary Judgment
Mixed Signals on Summary Judgment
Date Written: August 8, 2014
Abstract
This essay examines three cases from the Supreme Court’s October Term 2013 that addressed the standards for summary judgment. In one, the Court affirmed summary judgment against a civil rights plaintiff; in two others the Court rejected the grant of summary judgment against civil rights plaintiffs, arguably for the first time in quite awhile, but in procedurally confounding ways. The essay unpacks the substance and procedure of all three decisions, and considers their likely effect and what signals they send to lower courts and litigants about the proper approach to summary judgment.
Keywords: Courts; Procedure; Summary judgment; Civil Rights; § 1983; Qualified Immunity
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