LDF Files Rehearing Petition in Qualified Immunity Case Involving Invasive Strip Search

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Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), along with co-counsel Shania King, filed a petition in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, calling for a rehearing of a case where a correction official was granted qualified immunity following an invasive and retaliatory strip search of Clarissa Gilmore during her visit to a Georgia state prison.

LDF and co-counsel represented Ms. Gilmore in her direct appeal, arguing that the district court erred in granting qualified immunity to the prison officials who conducted the search of Ms. Gilmore because the search was both unjustified at its inception and excessive in scope. A panel affirmed the grant of qualified immunity, finding that a previous Eleventh Circuit decision in Thomas v. Roberts required it to ignore the unanimous consensus of other circuits that this conduct was unlawful.

In their rehearing petition, LDF and co-counsel urge the court to overrule Thomas, as it is in direct conflict with Supreme Court decisions making clear that a robust consensus of persuasive authority from other circuits can clearly establish the law. The petition explains that the panel found that the officers' conduct egregiously violated Ms. Gilmore's Fourth Amendment rights by strip searching her with no articulable suspicion and that nine other circuits have determined that the officers' precise conduct is unlawful.