Civil Rights Actions

This casebook provides the most complete treatment available of constitutional tort actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Bivens. The elaborate doctrines of official immunity are examined in detail, as is the possibility of direct governmental liability under Monell v. Dept. of Social Services. The Third Edition also explores the relation of § 1983 to the Eleventh Amendment, qualified immunity, and the award of attorney's fees. It also provides an introduction to actions under other Reconstruction Civil Rights Acts (§§ 1981, 1982, and 1985), under modern statutes such as Title VII and Title IX (which add sex discrimination to previously prohibited grounds of discrimination), and to structural reform litigation (usually undertaken in the form of class actions).