Crawford-El v. Britton

The court of appeals' new rule would have severely limited plaintiffs' abilities to penetrate defendants' first line of defense in cases involving wrongful actions. By rejecting that rule, the Supreme Court maintained the balance between a plaintiff's right to seek redress for alleged violations of federal rights by a government employee and the government employee's need for protection against frivolous law suits. However, the ruling fails to keep the Constitution from, in Justice Scalia's words, "degenerating into a general tort law."