Greg Moore v. Sean Garnand, 83 F.4th 743 (2023)

Citation: Greg Moore v. Sean Garnand, 83 F.4th 743 (2023)
Parent Document: Greg Moore v. Sean Garnand, 83 F.4th 743 (2023)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2023-09-29
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9429207/greg-moore-v-sean-garnand/ ↗

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“A Government official’s conduct violates clearly
established law when, at the time of the challenged conduct,
‘the contours of a right are sufficiently clear’ that every
‘reasonable official would have understood that what he is
doing violates that right.’” Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S.
731, 741 (2011) (internal brackets omitted) (quoting
Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640 (1987)). While
we “do not require a case directly on point, . . . existing
precedent must have placed the statutory or constitutional
question beyond debate.” Id. “The Supreme Court has
repeatedly stressed that courts must not define clearly
established law at a high level of generality.” Ballentine, 28
F.4th at 64 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting
Wesby, 138 S. Ct. at 590).
    “In the Ninth Circuit, we begin [the clearly established]
inquiry by looking to binding precedent. If the right is
clearly established by decisional authority of the Supreme
Court or this Circuit, our inquiry should come to an end.”
Boyd v. Benton County, 374 F.3d 773, 781 (9th Cir. 2004)
(internal citation omitted). “[I]n the absence of binding
precedent, we look to whatever decisional law is available to
ascertain whether the law is clearly established for qualified
immunity purposes . . . .” Id. (internal quotation marks
omitted) (quoting Drummond ex rel. Drummond v. City of
Anaheim, 343 F.3d 1052, 1060 (9th Cir. 2003)).
A. Retaliation Based on Mr. Moore’s Silence
    Plaintiffs claim that Defendants retaliated against them
because Mr. Moore exercised his First Amendment right to
remain silent when questioned by Defendants. But Plaintiffs
identify no case that clearly established that a person has a
First Amendment right to remain silent when questioned by
the police.
14                       MOORE V. GARNAND

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