320
Breyer, J., dissenting
was meant, in part, "to protect public officials from the 'broad-ranging discovery' that can be 'peculiarly disruptive of effective government.' " Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U. S. 635, 646, n. 6 (1987) (quoting Harlow, supra, at 817). But the Court's decision in Mitchell (that district court orders denying qualified immunity are immediately appealable) was concerned primarily with preserving defendants' immunity from trial, not discovery. See 472 U. S., at 525 ("At the heart of the issue before us is the question whether qualified immunity . . . is in fact an entitlement not to stand trial"); see also Van Cauwenberghe, supra, at 524 ("The critical question, following Mitchell, is whether 'the essence' of the claimed right is a right not to stand trial"). The Court has never before suggested, much less "settled," that the government defendant's antidiscovery interest—independent of his interest in avoiding trial—is so important that it must be safeguarded by interlocutory appellate review.
Finally, this Court and its individual Members have, in recent years, cautioned against expanding the class of orders eligible for interlocutory appeal. See, e. g., Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc., 511 U. S., at 868 (opinion of Souter, J.) ("[T]he 'narrow' exception should stay that way and never be allowed to swallow the general rule"); Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Mayacamas Corp., 485 U. S., at 292 (Scalia, J., concurring) ("[The Court's] finality jurisprudence is sorely in need of further limiting principles, so that Cohen appeals will be, as we originally announced they would be, a 'small class [of decisions] . . . too important to be denied review' "); Richardson-Merrell Inc. v. Koller, 472 U. S., at 440 (opinion of O'Connor, J.) ("[W]e decline to 'transform the limited exception carved out in Cohen into a license for broad disregard of the finality rule imposed by Congress in § 1291' ") (quoting Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Risjord, 449 U. S. 368, 378 (1981)). Caution would seem especially appropriate where the Court is considering not one interlocutory appeal in a single case, but two.
Page: Index Previous 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007