Cite as: 510 U. S. 266 (1994)
Stevens, J., dissenting
interval may separate the formal accusation from the arrest, possibly because the accused is out of the jurisdiction or because of administrative delays in effecting the arrest.27
Because the constitutional protection against unfounded accusations is distinct from, and somewhat broader than, the protection against unreasonable seizures, there is no reason why an abandonment of a claim based on the seizure should constitute a waiver of the claim based on the accusation. Moreover, a case holding that allegations of police misconduct in connection with an arrest or seizure are adequately reviewed under the Fourth Amendment's reasonableness standard, Graham v. Connor, 490 U. S. 386 (1989), tells us nothing about how unwarranted accusations should be evaluated.
Graham merely held that the due process right to be free from police applications of excessive force when state officers effect a seizure is governed by the same reasonableness standard as that governing seizures effected by federal officers. Id., at 394-395. In the unlawful seizure context exemplified by Graham, there is no need to differentiate between a so-called Fourth Amendment theory and a substantive due process theory because they are coextensive.28
Whether viewed through a Fourth Amendment lens or a sub-whether one is protected by the Due Process Clause from unfounded prosecutions has implications beyond whether damages are ultimately obtainable. Indeed, in this very case petitioner's complaint sought injunctive relief in addition to damages.
27 See, e. g., Doggett v. United States, 505 U. S. 647 (1992) (time lag between indictment and arrest of 81/2 years due in part to the defendant's absence from the country and in part to the Government's negligence).
28 It is worthwhile to emphasize that the Fourth Amendment itself does not apply to state actors. It is only because the Court has held that the privacy rights protected against federal invasion by that Amendment are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that the Fourth Amendment has any relevance in this case. Strictly speaking, petitioner's claim is based entirely and exclusively on the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause.
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