Rights only have meaning if there are remedies when they are violated, but the Supreme Court on Wednesday once more limited the ability of injured individuals to sue when their constitutional rights are infringed. The court has made it virtually impossible for those whose rights are violated by federal officials to sue, no matter how egregious the constitutional violation or the injury.
The federal government has sovereign immunity and cannot be sued for monetary damages unless there is a federal statute expressly authorizing the suit. No such statute exists to allow the federal government to be sued for constitutional violations. Typically, the only recourse for a person whose rights have been violated is to sue the federal officer who caused the harm.
Although there is a federal statute authorizing suits against state and local officials who violate the Constitution, no such law exists to permit federal officials to be sued. In 1971, in the landmark case, Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the Supreme Court held that a federal official who violates the Constitution can be sued for monetary damages notwithstanding the absence of a statute expressly permitting this action.
