Cite as: 523 U. S. 574 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
Hunger, Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Preston, Irving L. Gornstein, Barbara L. Herwig, and Robert Loeb.*
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner, a long-time prison inmate, seeks damages from a corrections officer based on a constitutional claim that requires proof of improper motive. The broad question presented is whether the courts of appeals may craft special procedural rules for such cases to protect public servants from the burdens of trial and discovery that may impair the performance of their official duties. The more specific question is whether, at least in cases brought by prisoners, the
*Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the State of Missouri et al. by Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Attorney General of Missouri, John R. Munich, Deputy Attorney General, and Alana M. Barrágan-Scott and Gretchen E. Rowan, Assistant Attorneys General, Charles H. Troutman, Acting Attorney General of Guam, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Bill Pryor of Alabama, Bruce M. Botelho of Alaska, Grant Woods of Arizona, Winston Bryant of Arkansas, Daniel E. Lungren of California, Gale A. Norton of Colorado, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida, Margery S. Bronster of Hawaii, Chris Gorman of Kentucky, Richard P. Ieyoub of Louisiana, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., of Maryland, Scott Harshbarger of Massachusetts, Frank J. Kelley of Michigan, Hubert H. Humphrey III of Minnesota, Mike Moore of Mississippi, Joseph P. Mazurek of Montana, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, Dennis C. Vacco of New York, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Betty D. Montgomery of Ohio, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, D. Michael Fisher of Pennsylvania, Jeffrey B. Pine of Rhode Island, Mark W. Barnett of South Dakota, Dan Morales of Texas, Jan Graham of Utah, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, Richard Cullen of Virginia, Julio A. Brady of the Virgin Islands, Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., of West Virginia, and James E. Doyle of Wisconsin; for the American Civil Liberties Union et al. by Arthur B. Spitzer and Steven R. Shapiro; and for J. Michael Quinlan et al. by Michael L. Martinez.
Daniel H. Bromberg and Paul Michael Pohl filed a brief for William G. Moore, Jr., as amicus curiae.
577
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