On Tuesday, March 21, 2017, while eyes were turned to the Gorsuch hearing, the Supreme Court issued a 6-2 decision in a section 1983 action, Manuel v. City of Joliet, No. 14-9496. The majority held that petitioners may challenge pretrial detention (in addition to arrest) on the ground that it violated the Fourth Amendment.

In this case, Mr. Manuel was detained for 7 weeks for possession of ecstasy where the field test was negative, the evidence tech at the station lied about one of the pills testing positive and another officer reported that, based on his training and experience, he knew the pills to be ecstasy. Even after the state police lab reported that the seized pills contained no controlled substances, Mr. Manuel was detained for more than another month before the charges were dismissed and he was released.

Alito issued a dissent (joined by Thomas) criticizing the majority opinion as having the potential to “dramatically expand Fourth Amendment liability under 1983 in a way that does violence to the text of the Fourth Amendment.”

The opinion is available HERE.