CARLSON, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, ET AL. v. GREEN, ADMINISTRATRIX, 446 U.S. 14

Summary

The court of appeals held that respondent satisfied jurisdictional-amount requirement of 28 U.S.C.S. § 1331(a) because whenever a State survival statute abated a Bivens action brought against defendants whose conduct results in death, federal common law allowed survival of the action. On appeal, the United States Supreme Court affirmed. Victims of a constitutional violation by a federal agent have a right to recovery against the official in federal court despite the absence of a statute conferring such right. The right is defeated when defendants show factors counseling hesitation in the absence of affirmative action by Congress or show Congress provided an alternative remedy explicitly declared to be a substitute for recovery. Here, neither situation was obtained. Thus, respondent's son had an action under Federal Tort Claims Act and a Bivens action. Federal law created Bivens actions. Therefore, whether respondent's action survived her son's death was a question of federal law. The ...