Cite as: 523 U. S. 574 (1998)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
er's suit is allowed to proceed. Wyatt v. Cole, 504 U. S., at 161. Petitioner has already fully exercised his "federally guaranteed rights." Providing compensation to him, even if his claim is meritorious, will foster increased constitutional freedoms only for the hypothetical subsequent individual who, given the imposition of liability in this case, will not be deterred from exercising his First Amendment rights out of fear that respondent would retaliate by misdirecting his belongings.
The costs of the extension of Harlow that I propose would therefore be minor. The benefits would be significant, and we have recognized them before. As noted above, inquiries into the subjective state of mind of government officials are "peculiarly disruptive of effective government" and the threat of such inquiries will in some instances cause conscientious officials to shrink from making difficult choices.3
The policy arguments thus point strongly in favor of extending immunity in the manner I suggest. The Court's opinion, however, suggests a second reason why this rule might be unnecessary. The Court assumes that district court judges alert to the dangers of allowing these claims
3 This point has perhaps been made most elegantly by Judge Learned Hand, who, in an oft-cited passage, wrote:
"It does indeed go without saying that an official, who is in fact guilty of using his powers to vent his spleen upon others . . . should not escape liability for the injuries he may so cause; and, if it were possible in practice to confine such complaints to the guilty, it would be monstrous to deny recovery. The justification for doing so is that it is impossible to know whether the claim is well founded until the case has been tried, and that to submit all officials, the innocent as well as the guilty, to the burden of a trial and to the inevitable danger of its outcome, would dampen the ardor of all but the most resolute, or the most irresponsible, in the unflinching discharge of their duties. . . . As is so often the case, the answer must be found in a balance between the evils inevitable in either alternative. In this instance it has been thought in the end better to leave unredressed the wrongs done by dishonest officers than to subject those who try to do their duty to the constant dread of retaliation." Gregoire v. Biddle, 177 F. 2d 579, 581 (CA2 1949), cert. denied, 339 U. S. 949 (1950).
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