# Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati > Supreme Court of the United States · March 25, 1986 · 475 U.S. 469 URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9430390 ## Case - **Full name:** PEMBAUR v. CITY OF CINCINNATI Et Al. - **Court:** Supreme Court of the United States - **Decided:** March 25, 1986 - **Citations:** 475 U.S. 469; 54 U.S.L.W. 4289; 106 S. Ct. 1292; 89 L. Ed. 2d 452; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 33 - **Precedential status:** Published - **Opinion:** Concurrence by O'Connor - **Judges:** Brennan, Ii-A, Ii-C, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Ii-B, Powell, Burger, Rehnquist - **Cited by:** 5,982 later opinions in the Frix Law Library ## Citator (automated) - **Yellow flag:** Reported superseded by statute, as recognized in Francis v. Carroll — not on the Supreme Court's list. - Negative treatments: 1 - Distinguished by: 0 - Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9430390 ## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction) - holding that authority to make policy “may be delegated by an official who possesses such authority . . . . [M]unicipalities often spread policymaking authority among various officers and official bodies. As a result, particular officers may have authority to establish binding… - holding that under Monell, if a “government’s authorized decisionmakers” make “the decision to adopt [a] particular course of action,” “it surely represents an act of official government ‘policy’” and “where action is directed by those who establish governmental policy, the mu… - finding that court of appeals erred in dismissing petitioner's claim against a county when the prosecutor, the relevant final policymaker, “made a considered decision based on his understanding of the law and commanded the officers forcibly to enter petitioner's clinic,” and “… - holding that municipal liability under § 1983 attaches “where — and only where — a deliberate choice to follow a course of action is made from among various alternatives by the official or officials responsible for establishing a final policy with respect to the subject matter… - holding that “municipal liability under § 1983 attaches where -- and only where -- a deliberate choice to follow a course of action is made from among various alternatives by the official or officials responsible for establishing final policy with respect to the subject matter… ## Opinion text Justice O’Connor, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. For the reasons stated by Justice White, I agree that the municipal officers here were acting as policymakers within the meaning of Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U. S. 658 (1978). As the city of Cincinnati freely conceded, forcible entry of third-party property to effect an arrest was standard operating procedure in May 1977. Given that this procedure was consistent with federal, state, and local law at the time the case arose, it seems fair to infer that respondent county’s policy was no different. Moreover, under state law as definitively construed by the Court of Appeals, the county officials who opted for the forcible entry “had the authority to approve or disapprove such entries.” Ante, at 485 (White J., concurring). Given this combination of circumstances, I agree with Justice White that the decision to break down the door “sufficiently manifested county policy to warrant reversal of the judgment below.” Ibid. Because, however, I believe that the reasoning of the majority goes beyond that necessary to decide the case, and because I fear that the standard the majority articulates may be misread to expose municipalities to liability beyond that envisioned by the Court in Monell , I join only Parts I and II-A of the Court’s opinion and the judgment. --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9430390. Public record. Not legal advice.