Will Twombly rescue John Ashcroft from paying damages?
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday granted the government’s petition for writ of certiorari in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, No. 07-1015 (U.S. June 16, 2008), to consider (Blawgletter thinks) both of the questions that the petition posed: QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Whether a conclusory allegation that a cabinet- level officer or other high-ranking official knew of, condoned, or agreed to subject a plaintiff to allegedly unconstitutional acts purportedly committed by subordinate officials is sufficient to state individual-capacity claims against those officials under Bivens. 2. Whether a cabinet-level officer or other high-ranking official may be held personally liable for the allegedly unconstitutional acts of subordinate officials on the ground that, as high-level supervisors, they had constructive notice of the discrimination allegedly carried out by such subordinate officials. News reports on the grant played up the second question — the one having to do with whether former Attorney General John As
