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Bivens at the Border: Supreme Court to

Consider Whether Cross-Border Shooting

Case Can Proceed



November 7, 2019

On November  12, 2019, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in Hernndez v Alea, a
case arising from the fatal shooting across the United States-Mexico border of 15-year-old Mexican
national Sergio Adrian Hernandez Giereca by Customs and Border Protection Officer Jesus C. Mesa Jr.
The victim's family brought suit seeking money damages pursuant to Bivens vSi Unknwn Aenwd
Agentts of F.bderal Bureau of Aircotics, a 1971 Supreme Court decision holding that federal officers may
be sued for certain constitutional violations despite the absence of a statutory cause of action. However,
the Court has indicated in the decades following Bivens that this relief is only available in narrow factual
circumstances. In its 2017 decision, Ziglar v Abbasi, the Court appears to shut the door on recognizing
new situations, raising questions over the availability of a remedy for constitutional violations by federal
officials.
Herndndez raises a number of legal issues with significant implications. A decision in Herndndez may
address the continued viability of Bivens post-Abbasi. Herndndez also raises an issue as to the
extraterritorial reach of Bivens when the alleged unconstitutional conduct-particularly cross-border
actions-results in an injury to a non-U.S. national on foreign soil. Herndndez further poses a question
about the scope and effect of several factors-concerns of national security, foreign affairs, and
alternative legal remedies-on the availability of a Bivens remedy post-Abbasi.


Bivens Jurisprudence

Although a plaintiff may sue state officers for money damages for constitutional violations under federal
law, no comparable statute gives a plaintiff the right to bring suit againstfederal officers for constitutional
violations. Despite congressional silence on the matter, the Supreme Court held in Btwens that the plaintiff
in that case-who claimned federal agents arrested and searched him without probable cause and with
excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment-could pursue his claim under a judicially created
private cause of action for money damages. Bivens rests on the premise that where a constitutional right
has been invaded, the plaintiff is entitled to a remedy-whether statutory or judicially created. Justice

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