Cite as: 516 U. S. 299 (1996)
Breyer, J., dissenting
II
This Court's precedents justify one interlocutory appeal, but not more, in the ordinary qualified immunity case. When it initially set forth the "collateral order" exception, the Court said that it applied to "that small class" of orders that determine claims of right "too important to be denied [immediate] review." Cohen, supra, at 546 (emphasis added). In subsequent cases, and again today, the Court has reiterated that, to qualify for interlocutory appeal, the interest being asserted must be an important one. See, e. g., ante, at 308; Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc., 511 U. S. 863, 878-879 (1994) (Cohen inquiry "simply cannot be answered without a judgment about the value of the interests that would be lost through rigorous application of a final judgment requirement"); Coopers & Lybrand, supra, at 468 (disputed question must "resolve an important issue"); Richardson-Merrell Inc. v. Koller, 472 U. S. 424, 436 (1985); see also Lauro Lines s.r.l. v. Chasser, 490 U. S. 495, 502 (1989) (Scalia, J., concurring) ("The importance of the right asserted has always been a significant part of our collateral order doctrine"). Because one pretrial appeal would normally prove sufficient to protect a government defendant's qualified immunity interest in not standing trial, the right to take multiple interlocutory appeals will normally protect only the defendant's additional interest in avoiding such pretrial burdens as discovery. Thus, the question, as Justice Scalia has pointed out, is whether this antidiscovery interest is "sufficiently important to overcome the policies militating against interlocutory appeals." Id., at 503 (emphasis added). The relevant precedent indicates that, in the context of qualified immunity, it is not.
For one thing, the Court, when considering the kinds of orders that warrant interlocutory appeal, has identified as "sufficiently important" interests that are considerably more important than the ordinary interest in avoiding discovery.
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