Cite as: 504 U. S. 158 (1992)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
require plaintiffs to carry additional burdens"). Though they described the issue before them as "good-faith immunity," both the District Court and the Court of Appeals treated the question as one of law. App. 12-14; 928 F. 2d 718, 721-722 (CA5 1991). The Court of Appeals in particular placed heavy reliance on the policy considerations favoring a rule that citizens may rely on statutes presumed to be valid. Ibid. The latter inquiry, as Birdsall recognizes, however, goes mainly to the question of objective reasonableness. I do not understand either the District Court or the Court of Appeals to make an unequivocal finding that the respondents before us acted with subjective good faith when they filed suit under the Mississippi replevin statute. Furthermore, the question on which we granted certiorari was the narrow one whether private defendants in § 1983 suits are entitled to the same qualified immunity applicable to public officials, ante, at 168, which of course would be subject to the objective standard of Harlow v. Fitzgerald. Under my view the answer to that question is no. Though it might later be determined that there is no triable issue of fact to save the plaintiff's case in the matter now before us, on remand it ought to be open to him at least in theory to argue that the defendants' bad faith eliminates any reliance on the statute, just as it ought to be open to the defendants to show good faith even if some construct of a reasonable person in the defendants' position would have acted in a different way.
So I agree the case must be remanded for further proceedings.
Chief Justice Rehnquist, with whom Justice Souter and Justice Thomas join, dissenting.
The Court notes that we have recognized an immunity in the § 1983 context in two circumstances. The first is when a similarly situated defendant would have enjoyed an immunity at common law at the time § 1983 was adopted. Ante, at 163-164. The second is when important public policy con-
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