WASHINGTON—A divided Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit against a Border Patrol agent who allegedly assaulted an American citizen on his own property, issuing a decision Wednesday that limits remedies against federal law-enforcement officers accused of violating an individual’s constitutional rights.
Congress hasn’t expressly authorized such lawsuits, and courts shouldn’t infer they are allowed, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court’s conservative majority. Wednesday’s decision was the latest in recent decades to retreat from a 1971 precedent known as Bivens that implied a right to sue federal officers for violating the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
