Lanuza v. Love - Court staff summary: "The panel reversed the district court’s order declining to extend a Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), remedy to an immigrant pursuing lawful permanent resident status where a government immigration attorney intentionally submitted a forged document in an immigration proceeding to completely bar that immigrant from pursuing relief to which he was entitled. The panel concluded that while the Supreme Court “has made clear that expanding the Bivens remedy is now a ‘disfavored’ judicial activity,” Ziglar v. Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. 1843, 1857 (2017) (quoting Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 675 (2009)), a Bivens remedy was available in this narrow circumstance because none of the special factors outlined in Abbasi and other Supreme Court precedent applied. The panel affirmed the district court’s order denying qualified immunity to ICE Assistant Chief Counsel Jonathan Love because qualified immunity was not meant to protect those who are “plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.” Taylor v. Barkes, 135 S. Ct. 2042, 2044 (2015) (quoting Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 743 (2011)). The panel concluded that qualified immunity could not shield an officer from suit when he intentionally submitted a forged document in an immigration proceeding in clear violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1357(b)."

[Hats off to Matt Adams (argued) and Glenda M. Aldana Madrid, Christopher Schenck and Stephanie M. Martinez!]