CA7: “Close question” on a civil Fourth Amendment violation usually means qualified immunity

Finding this a “close question” on a Fourth Amendment violation for child protective services taking a child, the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. The plaintiff in a § 1983 Fourth Amendment case bears the burden of showing that the right is clearly established. Hernandez v. Foster, 657 F.3d 463 (7th Cir. 2011):

The plaintiffs bear the burden of proving that the constitutional right was clearly established. Estate of Escobedo v. Bender, 600 F.3d 770, 779 (7th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Martin v. Hanic, 131 S. Ct. 463 (2010). A right is clearly established “when, at the time of the challenged conduct, ‘[t]he contours of [a] right [are] sufficiently clear’ that every ‘reasonable official would have understood that what he is doing violates that right.'” al-Kidd, 131 S. Ct. at 2083 (quoting Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640 (1987)). The plaintiffs need not identify “a case directly on point, but existing precedent must have placed the statutory or constitutional question beyond debate.” Id.; see also Estate of Escobedo, 600 F.3d at 780 (stating that a party can demonstrate a right was clearly established by identifying “a closely analogous case” or presenting evidence that the defendant’s conduct was “patently violative of the constitutional right”).