Cite as: 508 U. S. 429 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U. S. 409, 421 (1976)); see also Burns v. Reed, 500 U. S. 478, 485 (1991).5
The skilled, professional court reporter of today was unknown during the centuries when the common-law doctrine of judicial immunity developed. See generally Ratteray, Verbatim Reporting Comes of Age, 56 Judicature 368 (1973). It was not until the late 19th century that official court reporters began to appear in state courts. Id., at 368-369. Prior to enactment of the Court Reporter Act in 1944,6 the federal system did not provide for official court reporting.7 Court reporters were not among the class of persons protected by judicial immunity in the 19th century.8
5 For purposes of immunity, we have not distinguished actions brought under 42 U. S. C. § 1983 against state officials from Bivens actions brought against federal officials. See Butz v. Economou, 438 U. S. 478, 503-504 (1978).
6 58 Stat. 5, as amended, 28 U. S. C. § 753.
7 In a case decided in 1942, we pointed out: "There is no law of the United States creating the position of official court stenographer and none requiring the stenographic report of any case, civil or criminal, and there is none providing for payment for the services of a stenographer in reporting judicial proceedings. The practice has been for the parties to agree that a designated person shall so report. The one selected must be paid by private arrangement with one or more of the parties to the litigation. The amount paid to him is not costs in the cause nor taxable as such against any of the parties." Miller v. United States, 317 U. S. 192, 197.
8 "Judicial Immunity . . . was an absolute immunity from all claims relating to the exercise of judicial functions. See, e. g., T. Cooley, Law of Torts 408-409 (1880). It extended not only to judges narrowly speaking, but to 'military and naval officers in exercising their authority to order courts-martial for the trial of their inferiors, or in putting their inferiors under arrest preliminary to trial; . . . to grand and petit jurors in the discharge of their duties as such; to assessors upon whom is imposed the duty of valuing property for the purpose of a levy of taxes; to commissioners appointed to appraise damages when property is taken under the right of eminent domain; to officers empowered to lay out, alter, and discontinue highways; to highway officers in deciding that a person claiming exemp-
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