# Crawford-El v. Britton > Supreme Court of the United States · May 4, 1998 · 523 U.S. 574 URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9433626 ## Case - **Full name:** Crawford-El v. Britton - **Court:** Supreme Court of the United States - **Decided:** May 4, 1998 - **Citations:** 523 U.S. 574; 118 S. Ct. 1584; 140 L. Ed. 2d 759; 1998 U.S. LEXIS 2966 - **Precedential status:** Published - **Opinion:** Concurrence by Kennedy - **Judges:** Stevens, Kennedy, Soüter, Ginsburg, Breyer, Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Thomas - **Cited by:** 2,596 later opinions in the Frix Law Library ## Citator (automated) - **Yellow flag:** Questioned by Ross v. State of Alabama, 15 F. Supp. 2d 1173 (1998). - Negative treatments: 1 - Distinguished by: 0 - Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9433626 ## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction) - stating its previous holding on that matter in Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982), did not “create an immunity from all discovery” but rather from “the costs of broad-reaching discovery,” and recognizing that “limited discovery may sometimes be necessary before the… - holding, in a First Amendment retaliation case, that "[t]he policy concerns underlying Harlow [v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)] do not support Justice Scalia’s unprecedented proposal to immunize all officials whose conduct is 'objectively val… - stating that "[t]he immunity standard in Harlow itself eliminates all motive-based claims in which the official's conduct did not violate clearly established law" and "a defense of qualified immunity may not be rebutted by evidence that the defendant's conduct was malicious or… - holding that "although evidence of improper motive is irrelevant on the issue of qualified immunity, it may be an essential component of the plaintiff’s affirmative case,” when "an essential element of [the] constitutional claim[] is a charge that the defendant’s conduct was i… - holding that to survive a defense motion for summary judgment asserting qualified immunity based on a constitutional issue that depends on evidence of motive or improper intent, a plaintiff must identify affirmative evidence from which a jury could find the necessary intent ## Opinion text Justice Kennedy, concurring. Prisoner suits under 42 U. S. C. § 1983 can illustrate our legal order at its best and its worst. The best is that even as to prisoners the government must obey always the Constitution. The worst is that many of these suits invoke our basic charter in support of claims which fall somewhere between the frivolous and the farcical and so foster disrespect for our laws. We must guard against disdain for the judicial system. As Madison reminds us, if the Constitution is to endure, it must from age to age retain “th[e] veneration which time bestows.” James Madison, The Federalist No. 49, p. 314 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961). The analysis by The Chief Justice addresses these serious concerns. I am in full agreement with the Court, however, that the authority to propose those far-reaching solutions lies with the Legislative Branch, not with us. --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9433626. Public record. Not legal advice.