Bergman Memorial Lecture Featuring Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents: Judicial Engagement and Law Enforcement Accountability

USD School of Law is pleased to present a panel discussion featuring Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents. This event is open to the public, USD faculty/administrators, and all undergraduate, graduate, and law students.

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents, recognizing an implied damages remedy for federal officials’ Constitutional violations, despite the absence of a federal statute authorizing such a remedy.  The Court observed that when a federal officer wields federal power, “there is no safety for the citizen, except in the protection of the judicial tribunals, for rights which have been invaded by the officers of the government, professing to act in its name.  There remains to him but the alternative of resistance, which may amount to crime.”

In the years following Bivens, federal courts recognized Bivens claims for violations of numerous Constitutional rights, and in multiple factual contexts, often describing Bivens as the federal counterpart to 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 claims. 

Over the past decade, however, the Supreme Court has substantially limited Bivens’ reach, not only through the qualified immunity doctrine, but also through pleading standards and other jurisprudential concepts.  This narrowing of Bivens’ availability as a remedy for police misconduct has coincided with Americans’ sharpened focus on such misconduct, widespread protests against law enforcement abuses, and calls to reform policing in America. 

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PARTNERS:

USD

• Alumni Association
• Law Alumni Board of Directors
• Pardee Legal Research Center
• School of Law

USD Student Organizations

• Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
• La Raza Law Students Association
• Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA)
• Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF)
• Society of Changemaker Organizations (SCO)
• Women's Law Caucus (WLC)

Community Organizations

• American Association of University Women Del Mar-Leucadia
• American Association of University Women San Diego
• League of Women Voters of North County San Diego
• League of Women Voters of San Diego
• San Diego County Bar Association