Simpson Thacher Wins Second Circuit Appeal in Fourth Amendment Case
On December 12, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated, in part, a summary judgment ruling from the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York pertaining to litigation brought on behalf of Maxmillian Sloley against two New York State Troopers alleging an unreasonable search in connection with Sloley’s arrest. The District Court had granted the defendants summary judgment, ruling that the search was supported by reasonable suspicion and that the officer conducting the search was entitled to qualified immunity because reasonable officers in his position would have concluded he had reasonable suspicion. In vacating the lower court’s ruling as to the nature of reasonable suspicion, the Second Circuit said, “such searches must be justified by specific, articulable facts supporting reasonable suspicion that an arrestee is secreting contraband...”
Jonathan Youngwood was quoted in a New York Law Journal article on the decision. The case also received coverage in Bloomberg Law’s United States Law Week and Bloomberg Big Law Business.
The Simpson Thacher team also includes Janet Gochman and Adin Pearl.