Cite as: 533 U. S. 194 (2001)
Ginsburg, J., concurring in judgment
fining the rules that govern a determination of probable cause . . . . As he tries to find his way in this thicket, the police officer must not be held to act at his peril." Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 456 F. 2d 1339, 1348 (1972) (on remand). In this light, Anderson reasoned: "Law enforcement officers whose judgments in making these difficult determinations [whether particular searches or seizures comport with the Fourth Amendment] are objectively legally reasonable should no more be held personally liable in damages than should officials making analogous determinations in other areas of law." 483 U. S., at 644 (emphasis added).
As the foregoing discussion indicates, however, "excessive force" typically is not an "analogous determination." The constitutional issue whether an officer's use of force was reasonable in given circumstances routinely can be answered simply by following Graham's directions. In inquiring, under Graham, whether an officer's use of force was within a range of reasonable options, the decisionmaker is also (and necessarily) answering the question whether a reasonable officer "could have believed" his use of force "to be lawful," Anderson, 483 U. S., at 638. See Street, 929 F. 2d, at 541, n. 2 (because of difficulty of deciding probable-cause issues, the conduct of an officer may be objectively reasonable even if cause did not exist, but "in excessive force cases, once a factfinder has determined that the force used was unnecessary under the circumstances, any question of objective reasonableness has also been foreclosed").
The Court fears that dispensing with the duplicative qualified immunity inquiry will mean "leaving the whole matter to the jury." Ante, at 200. Again, experience teaches otherwise. Lower courts, armed with Graham's directions, have not shied away from granting summary judgment to defendant officials in Fourth Amendment excessive force cases where the challenged conduct is objectively reasonable based on relevant, undisputed facts. See, e. g., Wilson v.
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