Are judges immune from civil suits when they discharge a court administrator?
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit addressed this question in Gallas v. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (3rd Cir 2000). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court hired an executive administrator for the First Judicial District, a trial court in Philadelphia that had been the site of considerable political and legal conflict. Subsequently, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court changed its planned reorganization of the First District, returned the district to local control, and discharged the administrator. The administrator challenged the Supreme Court’s actions on several grounds, including invasion of privacy because court personnel had released a copy of a protection order the administrator’s wife had filed against him. The Third Circuit said that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had absolute immunity because their action was not taken in “the complete action of all jurisdiction.” Moreover, the discharge of the administrator was taken in the court’s “legislative capacity” to supervise the Fir
