Cite as: 511 U. S. 863 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
suit altogether" that Abney and Mitchell held could be "adequately vindica[ted]" only on immediate appeal. 490 U. S., at 501.
E
As Digital reads the cases, the only things standing in the way of an appeal to perfect its claimed rights under the settlement agreement are the lone statement in Midland Asphalt, to the effect that only explicit statutory and constitutional immunities may be appealed immediately under § 1291, and language (said to be stray) repeated in many of our collateral order decisions, suggesting that the "importance" of the right asserted is an independent condition of appealability. See Brief for Petitioner 28-34. The first, Digital explains, cannot be reconciled with Mitchell's holding, that denial of qualified immunity (which we would be hard pressed to call "explicitly . . . guarantee[d]" by a particular constitutional or statutory provision) is a collateral order under § 1291; as between Mitchell and the Midland Asphalt dictum, Digital says, the dictum must give way. As for the second obstacle, Digital adamantly maintains that "importance" has no place in a doctrine justified as supplying a gloss on Congress's "final decision" language.
1
These arguments miss the mark. First, even if Mitchell could not be squared fully with the literal words of the Midland Asphalt sentence (but cf. Lauro Lines, 490 U. S., at 499, noting that Midland Asphalt was a criminal case and Mitchell was not), that would be only because the qualified immunity right is inexplicit, not because it lacks a good pedigree in public law. Indeed, the insight that explicitness may not be needed for jurisdiction consistent with § 1291 only leaves Digital with the unenviable task of explaining why other rights that might fairly be said to include an (implicit) "right to avoid trial" aspect are less in need of protection by immediate review, or more readily vindicated on appeal from final
875
Page: Index Previous 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007