United States First Circuit

In a police officer's 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action, claiming that his superior officers violated the Establishment Clause by holding a group prayer while on duty and punishing plaintiff for his non-conformance, the District Court's denial of defendant's motion for qualified immunity is affirmed where a reasonable officer in March 2012 would have known that appellants' conduct amounted to direct and tangible coercion, a paradigmatic example of an impermissible establishment of religion.

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/07/19

Judges

• LIPEZ

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel