Javaid Iqbal (cable Television Installer)
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''Ashcroft v. Iqbal'', 556 U.S. 662 (2009), was a
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
case which held that plaintiffs must present a "plausible" cause of action. Alongside ''
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'', 550 U.S. 544 (2007), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States involving United States antitrust law, antitrust law and civil procedure. Authored by Justice David Souter, it established that para ...
'' (and together known as
Twiqbal Twiqbal is a colloquial term in American law (civil procedure), referring to two separate US Supreme Court cases that heightened the pleading standard under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Together, these cases made it more difficult to sue i ...
), Iqbal raised the threshold which plaintiffs needed to meet. Further, the Court held that government officials are not liable for the actions of their subordinates without evidence that they ordered the allegedly discriminatory activity. At issue was whether current and former federal officials, including
FBI Director The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a United States federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI director is appointed for a ...
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...
and former
United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...
John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, Lobbying, lobbyist, and former politician who served as the 79th United States attorney general under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. A Republican Party (United States), R ...
, were entitled to
qualified immunity In the United States, qualified immunity is a legal principle of federal law that grants government officials performing discretionary (optional) functions immunity from lawsuits for damages unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated "c ...
against an allegation that they knew of or condoned
racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...
and
religious discrimination Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular religion they align with or were born into. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treate ...
against Muslim men detained after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. The decision also "transformed civil litigation in the federal courts" by making it much easier for courts to dismiss individuals' suits.Adam Liptak
"Supreme Court Ruling Altered Civil Suits, to Detriment of Individuals"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', May 19, 2015.


Background

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Javaid Iqbal, a
Pakistani-American Pakistani Americans () are citizens of the United States who have full or partial ancestry from Pakistan, or more simply, Pakistanis in America. They can be from different ethnic groups in Pakistan like Punjabis, Punjabi or Muhajir people, Muhaj ...
cable television installer was in lower Manhattan when the World Trade Center was attacked. He had been on his way to renew his work authorization card, as he was an immigrant and did not yet have permanent citizenship. In an initially unrelated action eight weeks later, he was arrested on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and fraud in relation to identification documents (violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1028), and he was placed in pretrial detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. When officers searched his apartment, they found a card for an appointment to be downtown on 9/11, as well as media reporting on the attacks, and suspected him of involvement. Iqbal alleged that
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
officials carried out a discriminatory policy by designating him as a person "of high interest" in the investigation of the September 11 attacks ''because of'' his race, religion, and national origin. He asserted that it was ''because of'' his identity as a Pakistani Muslim that he was placed in the detention center's Administrative Maximum Special Housing Unit for over six months while he was awaiting the fraud trial. Iqbal asserted that he was tortured by prison staff on the orders of, and under policies written by, John Ashcroft. Specifically, he claimed that on the day he was transferred to the special unit,
prison guards A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...
, without provocation, "picked him up and threw him against the wall, kicked him in the stomach, punched him in the face, and dragged him across the room." He testified that after being attacked a second time, he sought
medical attention First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...
but was denied care for two weeks. Further, Iqbal asserted that prison staff in the special unit subjected him to unjustified strip and body cavity searches, verbally berated him by calling him a "
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
" and "
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
killer," refused to give him adequate food, subjected him to extreme heat and cold, Further, he stated that prison staff interfered with his attempts at
prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
, to engage in religious study, and his
access to counsel In criminal law, the right to counsel means a defendant has a legal right to have the assistance of counsel (i.e., lawyers) and, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, requires that the government appoint one or pay the defendant's legal ex ...
. Iqbal pleaded guilty to using another man's
Social Security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
card on April 22, 2002, and was sentenced to prison, where he remained until his release on January 15, 2003. While in prison, his wife divorced him, thus invalidating his
green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...
. Iqbal was deported to Pakistan after his release. Upon his return to Pakistan he was branded an American agent. His son was persecuted and
forcibly disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the intent of placing ...
as a result. After being released, Iqbal brought claims under implied causes of action established by ''
Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents ''Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents'', 403 U.S. 388 (1971), was a case in which the US Supreme Court ruled that an implied cause of action existed for an individual whose Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizures had ...
'' for violations of his
First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendment rights as well as various statutory claims, including
Federal Tort Claims Act The Federal Tort Claims Act (August 2, 1946, ch. 646, Title IV, 28 U.S.C. Part VI, Chapter 171and ) ("FTCA") is a 1946 federal statute that permits private parties to sue the United States in a federal court for most torts committed by pers ...
claims against the United States seeking compensatory and
punitive damages Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit. ...
. Iqbal argued that Mueller and Ashcroft personally condoned the decision to detain him as well as Arab immigrants to the US. The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Justice had previously investigated and confirmed accounts of abuse of September 11 detainees like Iqbal. The OIG conducted more than one hundred interviews and obtained videotape evidence in its investigation of conditions at the MDC. The federal government argued that Iqbal's legal filings were not specific enough in linking the government officials with a policy of detaining Arab immigrants and Muslims. The District Court found that the facts alleged in Iqbal's complaint were sufficient. It also found that the OIG Report suggested that petitioners were personally involved in "creating or implementing" the policies that led to respondent's confinement in the Administrative Maximum Special Housing Unit. The
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York (state), New York, and Vermont, and it has ap ...
affirmed the lower court and refused to dismiss the action, concluding that it was plausible enough to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. The Supreme Court granted review, in part, to address "whether conclusory allegations that high-level government officials had knowledge of alleged wrongdoing by subordinate officials are sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss in an action brought under '' Bivens''."


Decision

In a 5–4 decision, delivered on May 18, 2009, by
Justice Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Pres ...
, the Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit's decision that the plaintiff had pleaded sufficient facts. The Supreme Court held that Iqbal's complaint failed to plead sufficient facts to state a claim for purposeful and unlawful discrimination. The court affirmed that the Second Circuit had
subject-matter jurisdiction Subject-matter jurisdiction, also called jurisdiction ''ratione materiae'', is a legal doctrine regarding the ability of a court to lawfully hear and adjudicate a case. Subject-matter relates to the nature of a case; whether it is criminal, ci ...
to affirm the District Court's order denying petitioners' motion to dismiss.


Supervisory liability

The Court found that according to precedent, government officials could not be held liable for the unconstitutional conduct of their subordinates because of ''
respondeat superior ''Respondeat superior'' (Latin: "let the master answer"; plural: ''respondeant superiores'') is a doctrine that a party is responsible for (and has vicarious liability for) acts of his agents.''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, ...
'' and also because
vicarious liability Vicarious liability is a form of a strict, secondary liability that arises under the common law doctrine of agency, '' respondeat superior'', the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate or, in a broader sense, the r ...
was inapplicable to ''Bivens'' and Section 1983 suits, a plaintiff must plead that each government-official defendant, through the official's own individual actions, has violated the US Constitution. To do so, the Court found, The Court rejected Iqbal's argument that under a theory of "supervisory liability," Ashcroft and Mueller could be liable for "knowledge and acquiescence in their subordinates' use of discriminatory criteria to make classification decisions among detainees."


Rule 8 pleading standard

Under
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. They are the companion to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Rules promulgated by the ...
8(a)(2), a complaint must contain a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.... detailed factual allegations" are not required. However, the court found that Rule 8 requires the non-moving party to show plausible factual allegations, accepted as true, to "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." ''
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'', 550 U.S. 544 (2007), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States involving United States antitrust law, antitrust law and civil procedure. Authored by Justice David Souter, it established that para ...
'', 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). A claim has facial plausibility when the pleaded factual content allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. (''Id.'' at 556.) In so doing, the Court confirmed that the standard set forth in '' Conley v. Gibson'', 355 U.S. 41 (1957) (the Supreme Court case that had defined the Rule 8 pleading standard prior to ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'') should not be followed in any context. The two cases are often referred to by the
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
''
Twiqbal Twiqbal is a colloquial term in American law (civil procedure), referring to two separate US Supreme Court cases that heightened the pleading standard under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Together, these cases made it more difficult to sue i ...
''. The Court restated the substance and application of the ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'' test for the sufficiency of pleadings: Applying the test to the plaintiff's complaint, the Court held that Iqbal's pleadings did not comply with Rule 8 under ''Twombly''. The Court found that several of his allegations (that petitioners agreed to subject him to harsh conditions as a matter of policy, solely on account of discriminatory factors and for no legitimate penological interest, that Ashcroft was that policy's "principal architect," and that Mueller was "instrumental" in its adoption and execution) were conclusory and not entitled to be assumed true. The Court decided that given that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated by
Arab Muslims Arab Muslims () are the Arabs who adhere to Islam. They are the largest subdivision of the Arab people and the largest ethnic group among Muslims globally, followed by Bengalis and Punjabis. Likewise, they comprise the majority of the population ...
, it was not surprising that a legitimate policy directing law enforcement to arrest and detain individuals because of their suspected link to the attacks would produce a disparate, incidental impact on Arab Muslims, even if the policy's purpose was to target neither Arabs nor Muslims. Even if the complaint's well-pleaded facts gave rise to a plausible inference that Iqbal's arrest was the result of unconstitutional discrimination, that inference alone did not entitle him to relief since his claims rested solely on their ostensible policy of holding detainees categorized as "of high interest," but the complaint does not contain facts plausibly showing that their policy was based on discriminatory factors. The Court rejected three of Iqbal's arguments. Firstly, the Court found that Iqbal's claim that ''Twombly'' should be limited to its antitrust context was not supported by that case or the Federal Rules. Secondly, the Court found that Rule 8's pleading requirements need not be relaxed based on the Second Circuit's instruction that the District Court ''in-camera'' discovery to preserve petitioners' qualified-immunity defense in anticipation of a summary judgment motion. Thirdly, the Court found that Rule 9(b), which requires particularity when pleading "fraud or mistake" but allows "other conditions of a person's mind obe alleged generally," did not require courts to credit a complaint's conclusory statements without reference to its factual context. The Supreme Court concluded that the Second Circuit should decide in the first instance whether to remand to the District Court to allow Iqbal to seek leave to amend his deficient complaint. The court of appeals then remanded the case to the district court so that it could decide the issue. Before the trial began, the parties settled out of court. That settlement, unlike the Court's ruling, ended his lawsuit against all government officials involved. Iqbal's claims against lower-level officials, including the guards and supervisors at the detention center, are unaffected by the court's ruling.


Souter's dissent

Justice Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; September 17, 1939 – May 8, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H ...
wrote a dissent joined by
Justice Stevens John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...
,
Justice Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated ...
and
Justice Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is an American lawyer and retired jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and re ...
, saying that despite the fact that Ashcroft and Mueller had conceded that an officer could be subject to ''Bivens'' liability as a supervisor on grounds other than ''
respondeat superior ''Respondeat superior'' (Latin: "let the master answer"; plural: ''respondeant superiores'') is a doctrine that a party is responsible for (and has vicarious liability for) acts of his agents.''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, ...
'', " e court apparently rejects this concession and... does away with supervisory liability under ''Bivens''. The majority then misapplies the pleading standard under ''
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'', 550 U.S. 544 (2007), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States involving United States antitrust law, antitrust law and civil procedure. Authored by Justice David Souter, it established that para ...
'', 550 U.S. 544 (2007), to conclude that the complaint fails to state a claim." Souter went on to say that the main fallacy in the majority's position was grown that they are looking at Iqbal's allegations in isolation and not as a unit. Furthermore, Iqbal was alleging not only that Ashcroft and Mueller had allowed the discrimination policy but also that they had ''created'' it.


Breyer's dissent

Justice Breyer filed a separate dissent, saying that neither the briefs nor the Court's opinion provided convincing grounds for finding that trial courts had inadequate means to prevent unwarranted interference with "the proper execution of the work of the government."


Impact

The decision, referenced with predecessor opinion ''
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'', 550 U.S. 544 (2007), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States involving United States antitrust law, antitrust law and civil procedure. Authored by Justice David Souter, it established that para ...
'' as "''
Twiqbal Twiqbal is a colloquial term in American law (civil procedure), referring to two separate US Supreme Court cases that heightened the pleading standard under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Together, these cases made it more difficult to sue i ...
''," has been described as possibly "the most consequential ruling in Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s 10-year tenure" because it has "transformed civil litigation in the federal courts" to the detriment of individuals. It is one of the five most cited Supreme Court decisions of all time. As of 2017, it had been cited over 85,000 times, mostly in lower courts. It has likely made it harder for civil rights cases to proceed through the federal judiciary. Writing in 2017, Stanford Law professor argued that the case mostly ignored the real center of the case: Iqbal himself. Sinnar noted that the court generalized Iqbal as a suspect and a foreigner, and failed to take in the human dimension of the case. She went on to write that the Court's decision in Iqbal is in many ways discriminatory, and that the Court ignored a true and serious problem around post 9/11 detentions. Many arrests were made on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, and religion, and suspects were jailed under inhumane conditions despite their innocence. Sinnar concluded that the seemingly obtuse tweak to the Rules of Civil Procedure from the case has had a disparate impact on plaintiffs since. Because "information about wrongdoing is often secret, and plaintiffs need discovery to unearth the facts" about dangerous products or discriminatory practices, courts are "potentially losing cases that could play an important role not only in the lives of plaintiffs but also in the law and society. Ehad Elmaghraby, an Egyptian who was part of the original suit, settled with the US government for $300,000 before the case would reach the Supreme Court.


References


Further reading

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External links

*
Case Brief of ''Ashcroft v. Iqbal''Petitioners Ashcroft and Mueller's Brief to the U.S. Supreme CourtRespondent Iqbal's Brief to the U.S. Supreme CourtRespondents Rolince and Maxwell's Brief to the U.S. Supreme CourtBrief to the U.S. Supreme Court of Dennis Hasty as Respondent supporting PetitionersReply Brief of Petitioners
* *
''Ashcroft v. Iqbal'' (SCOTUSWiki)''Ashcroft v. Iqbal'': Different Spanks for Different Ranks? (JURIST)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashcroft v. Iqbal United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases in 2009 Second Enforcement Act of 1871 case law Implied constitutional cause of action case law United States motion to dismiss case law United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court Legal issues related to the September 11 attacks Religious discrimination