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Civil rights Keyed to Jeffries, 5th Ed.
Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics
Citation:
403 U.S. 388 (1971)Facts
On November 26, 1965, agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, acting under claim of federal authority, entered Webster Bivens’ apartment and arrested him for alleged narcotics violations. According to Bivens’ complaint, the agents manacled him in front of his wife and children, threatened to arrest his entire family, and conducted an exhaustive search of his apartment. Bivens was then taken to the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, where he was interrogated, booked, and subjected to a visual strip search. On July 7, 1967, Bivens filed suit in federal court, alleging that the agents had acted without a warrant or probable cause and had employed unreasonable force during the arrest. He claimed to have suffered great humiliation, embarrassment, and mental suffering as a result of the agents’ conduct and sought $15,000 in damages from each agent. The government argued that Bivens’ only remedy was a state law tort action for trespass, with the Fourth Amendment serving merely as a limitation on the agents’ defense.
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