Whether the qualified-immunity doctrine is irreconcilable with the text of Section 1983 as Congress originally enacted it in 1871

QUESTION PRESENTED This Court’s qualified-immunity precedent derives from the premise that there is “no evidence that Congress intended to abrogate the traditional commonlaw” immunities in Section 1983 actions. Briscoe v. LaHue, 460 U.S. 325, 337 (1983). But that premise is wrong, as Judge Willett’s concurring opinion in the decision below explains. Section 1983 as originally enacted in 1871 contained express language abrogating state common-law immunities. That text was mistakenly omitted during codification, and this Court has never addressed it. This petition presents the question whether the qualified-immunity doctrine is irreconcilable with the text of Section 1983 as Congress originally enacted it in 1871. (i)