Supreme Court to Review Bivens Case Involving Border Enforcement Officers

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Mike LaSusa for Law360 reports that the U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will review a suit brought by a bed and breakfast owner claiming that a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights by shoving him and then retaliating after he reported the incident.

The justices will consider two of the three questions raised in border agent Erik Egbert’s petition for certiorari, which centered on the 1971 Supreme Court decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents. Bivens held that plaintiffs can sue federal officials for damages for violating their Fourth Amendment rights.

Egbert asked the justices to rule on whether the logic of the Bivens case also applies to First Amendment violations by federal officers, and whether it applies to Fourth Amendment claims against federal officers enforcing the immigration duties.  The Court will take up those questions, but declined Egbert’s request to examine whether the court should reconsider the Bivens decision altogether.

KJ