284
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
are protected by the Due Process Clause. Even so, our precedents make clear that a state actor's random and unauthorized deprivation of that interest cannot be challenged under 42 U. S. C. § 1983 so long as the State provides an adequate postdeprivation remedy. Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U. S. 527, 535-544 (1981); see Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U. S. 517, 531-536 (1984); Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U. S. 651, 674-682 (1977); id., at 701 (Stevens, J., dissenting) ("adequate state remedy for defamation may satisfy the due process requirement when a State has impaired an individual's interest in his reputation").
The commonsense teaching of Parratt is that some questions of property, contract, and tort law are best resolved by state legal systems without resort to the federal courts, even when a state actor is the alleged wrongdoer. As we explained in Parratt, the contrary approach "would almost necessarily result in turning every alleged injury which may have been inflicted by a state official acting under 'color of law' into a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment cognizable under § 1983. . . . Presumably, under this rationale any party who is involved in nothing more than an automobile accident with a state official could allege a constitutional violation under § 1983. Such reasoning 'would make of the Fourteenth Amendment a font of tort law to be superimposed upon whatever systems may already be administered by the States.' " 451 U. S., at 544 (quoting Paul v. Davis, 424 U. S. 693, 701 (1976)). The Parratt principle respects the delicate balance between state and federal courts and comports with the design of § 1983, a statute that reinforces a legal tradition in which protection for persons and their rights is afforded by the common law and the laws of the States, as well as by the Constitution. See Parratt, supra, at 531-532.
Yet it is fair to say that courts, including our own, have been cautious in invoking the rule of Parratt. See Mann v. Tucson, 782 F. 2d 790, 798 (CA9 1986) (Sneed, J., concurring).
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