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HernáNdezv.Mesa

CourtSupreme Court of the United States
Docket No.17-1678
DecidedFebruary 25, 2020
Reporter589 U.S. 93
JudgesSupreme Court of the United States
Tags
CivilCivil RightsConstitutional LawFourth AmendmentFifth AmendmentConstitutional InterpretationSeparation of PowersImmigration LawDissent
Case Summary

A Border Patrol agent standing in the United States shot and killed fifteen-year-old Sergio Hernández, who was on Mexican soil after running across a border culvert. Hernández’s parents sued the agent for damages under Bivens, alleging Fourth and Fifth Amendment violations. The Supreme Court held that Bivens does not extend to damages claims arising from a cross-border shooting. The claim presented a new context with foreign-relations and national-security implications, and the Court concluded that those considerations, together with Congress’s repeated decisions not to authorize comparable extraterritorial damages remedies, counseled hesitation. The Court emphasized that creating such a remedy was a legislative choice rather than a judicial one and affirmed the Fifth Circuit’s judgment. Justice Thomas concurred. Justice Ginsburg, joined by three Justices, dissented and would have allowed the parents’ claims to proceed.

Opinion

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