590
Opinion of the Court
The Reasoning in Harlow
Two reasons that are explicit in our opinion in Harlow, together with a third that is implicit in the holding, amply justified Harlow's reformulation of the qualified immunity defense. First, there is a strong public interest in protecting public officials from the costs associated with the defense of damages actions.12 That interest is best served by a defense that permits insubstantial lawsuits to be quickly terminated. Second, allegations of subjective motivation might have been used to shield baseless lawsuits from summary judgment. 457 U. S., at 817-818. The objective standard, in contrast, raises questions concerning the state of the law at the time of the challenged conduct—questions that normally can be resolved on summary judgment. Third, focusing on "the objective legal reasonableness of an official's acts," id., at 819, avoids the unfairness of imposing liability on a defendant who "could not reasonably be expected to anticipate subsequent legal developments, nor . . . fairly be said to 'know' that the law forbade conduct not previously identified as unlawful," id., at 818.13 That unfairness may
12 "These social costs include the expenses of litigation, the diversion of official energy from pressing public issues, and the deterrence of able citizens from acceptance of public office. Finally, there is the danger that fear of being sued will 'dampen the ardor of all but the most resolute, or the most irresponsible [public officials], in the unflinching discharge of their duties.' Gregoire v. Biddle, 177 F. 2d 579, 581 (CA2 1949), cert. denied, 339 U. S. 949 (1950)." Harlow, 457 U. S., at 814.
13 Our opinion in Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U. S. 232 (1974), explicitly identified fairness as an important concern: "This official immunity apparently rested, in its genesis, on two mutually dependent rationales: (1) the injustice, particularly in the absence of bad faith, of subjecting to liability an officer who is required, by the legal obligations of his position, to exercise discretion; (2) the danger that the threat of such liability would deter his willingness to execute his office with the decisiveness and the judgment required by the public good." Id., at 239-240 (footnote omitted). Fairness alone is not, however, a sufficient reason for the immunity defense, and thus does not justify its extension to private parties. Wyatt v. Cole, 504 U. S. 158, 168 (1992).
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