Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati

Summary

The Court held that a single decision by an authorized municipal policymaker can constitute official policy supporting liability under § 1983. It reversed the dismissal of Pembaur's claim against Hamilton County because the County Prosecutor, acting as the County's final decisionmaker under the circumstances, directed the forcible entry into Pembaur's clinic. The Court accepted the County's concessions concerning the constitutional violation and Steagald's retroactivity rather than independently deciding those questions. Brennan's Part II-B, articulating a general final-policymaking-authority standard, commanded only four votes. White concurred separately, emphasizing that the officials chose a course permitted by then-controlling law. Stevens concurred in part and in the judgment, advocating municipal respondeat superior liability and joining all but Part II-B. O'Connor concurred in part and in the judgment, joining Parts I and II-A and relying on White's narrower reasoning. Powell, joined by Burger and Rehnquist, dissented, arguing that Steagald should not apply retroactively and that the Prosecutor's isolated telephone instruction did not establish official county policy.