610
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
to proceed can protect defendants by judicious and skillful manipulation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Ante, at 597-601. I have no doubt that, as a general matter, district court judges are entirely capable in this regard. But whether a defendant is entitled to protection against the "peculiarly disruptive" inquiry into subjective intent should not depend on the willingness or ability of a particular district court judge to limit inquiry through creative application of the Federal Rules. The scope of protection should not vary depending on the district in which the plaintiff brings his suit. Cf. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U. S., at 643 ("An immunity that has as many variants as there are modes of official action and types of rights would not give conscientious officials that assurance of protection that it is the object of the doctrine to provide"). Indeed, the inconsistency with which some District Courts had applied the Wood v. Strickland subjective good-faith inquiry was one of the reasons why the Harlow Court stripped qualified immunity of its subjective component. Harlow, 457 U. S., at 816 ("And an official's subjective good faith has been considered to be a question of fact that some courts have regarded as inherently requiring resolution by a jury").
My proposed rule would supply officials with the consistency and predictability that Harlow and its progeny have identified as an underlying purpose of qualified immunity doctrine, without eliminating motive-based torts altogether. The Court's solution, which is dependent on the varying approaches of 700-odd district court judges, simply will not; at the end of the day, many cases will still depend on a fact-finder's decision as to motivation. No future defendant in respondent's position can know with any certainty that the simple act of delivering a prisoner's belongings in one way rather than another will not result in an extensive investigation of her state of mind at the time she did so. This result is simply not faithful to Harlow's underlying concerns.
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