United States Second Circuit

In an action claiming abuse, mistreatment, and detention of Arab and Muslim aliens who were held on immigration violations in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an order partially dismissing the complaint is affirmed in part where there was no clearly established equal protection right to be free of selective enforcement of immigration laws based on national origin, race, or religion at the time of plaintiffs' detentions. However, the order is vacated in part where defendant-officials were entitled to qualified immunity because a law enforcement official's actual motivation for the Fourth Amendment seizure of a person was constitutionally irrelevant if the seizure was supported by probable cause.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/18/2009
• Published 12/18/2009

Judges

• PER CURIAM:, Before JACOBS, Chief Judge, and RAGGI, Circuit Judge.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Michael Winger (C. William Phillips, Kate Greenwood, Amanda J. Gourdine, Kimberly Zelnick, Douglas Bloom, and Joanne Sum-Ping, on the brief), Covington & Burling LLP, New York, NY;  Rachel Meeropol (Matthew Strugar, William Goodman, Shayana Kadidal, and William Quiqley, on the brief), Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY;  David Cole, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC;  and Claudia Slovinsky, Law Offices of Claudia Slovinsky, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross-Appellants., Robert M. Loeb (Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Gregory G. Garre, Deputy Solicitor General, Jonathan F. Cohn, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Kannon K. Shanmugam, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, Barbara L. Herwig, Sarang V. Damle, Dennis C. Barghaan, Richard W. Sponseller, Larry Lee Gregg, and R. Craig Lawrence, Assistant United States Attorneys, on the brief), United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, and United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria, VA, for Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees John Ashcroft and Robert Mueller.   William Alden McDaniel, Jr. (Bassel Bakhos, on the brief), Law Office of William Alden McDaniel, Jr., Baltimore, MD, for Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee James Ziglar., Michael L. Martinez (Shari Ross Lahlou, David E. Bell, Justin P. Murphy, Kyler E. Smar, and Matthew F. Scarlato, on the brief), Crowell & Moring LLP, Washington, DC, for Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee Dennis Hasty., Debra L. Roth (Thomas M. Sullivan, on the brief), Shaw, Bransford, Veilleux & Roth, P.C., Washington, DC, for Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee James Sherman., Sital Kalantry, Cornell Law School, Ithaca, N.Y. for amici curiae former wardens and senior prison officials in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross-Appellants.