A Section 1983 lawsuit is a civil rights lawsuit. It can be filed by someone whose civil rights have been violated. You can file a lawsuit if the wrongdoer was acting under color of law.¹

Civil rights are those guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution or certain federal laws. The Supreme Court recognizes that there is a deprivation of rights when:

• police misconduct such as excessive force and unreasonable use of force (like the use of a taser during an arrest),²
• police officers wantonly search your home and kill their dogs,³
• a judge sexually assaults women while in the course of his/her job,⁴
• state officials strip welfare recipients of their benefits,⁵
• jail guards put an ex-gang member in a prison cell with current gang members, even after being told of the danger.⁶

Rights guaranteed by state law cannot be the basis of a Section 1983 lawsuit. Only federal rights are protected by the statute.⁷

1.1. How it works

Technically, Section 1983 is nothing more than a procedural device based on a federal statute. It gives federal courts jurisdiction to hear civil rights actions.

No one can be liable under Section 1983. Instead, it creates liability for violating other federal laws. That is why 1983 cases always include an alleged violation of another law, such as the:

• First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, and the press),
• Fourth Amendment (for example, arrests without probable cause, unreasonable searches),⁸
• Eighth Amendment (freedom from cruel and unusual punishment),⁹
• Fourteenth Amendment (for example, lack of due process, equal protection), or
• Social Security Act.¹⁰

1215 – King John of England put his seal on the Magna Carta.

1381 – The English peasant revolt was crushed in London.

1389 – Ottoman Turks crushed Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo.

1607 – Colonists in North America completed James Fort in Jamestown, VA.

1667 – Jean-Baptiste Denys administered the first fully-documented human blood transfusion. He successfully transfused the blood of a sheep to a 15-year old boy.

1752 – Benjamin Franklin experimented by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. The result was a little spark that showed the relationship between lightning and electricity.

1775 – George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress.

1836 – Arkansas became the 25th U.S. state.

1844 – Charles Goodyear was granted a patent for the process that strengthens rubber.

1846 – The United States and Britain settled a boundary dispute concerning the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, by signing a treaty.

1864 – An order to establish a military burial ground was signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The location later became known as Arlington National Cemetery.

1866 – Prussia attacked Austria.

1877 – Henry O. Flipper became the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

1898 – The U.S. House of representatives approved the annexation of Hawaii.

1909 – Benjamin Shibe patented the cork center baseball.

1911 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. was incorporated in the state of New York. The company was later renamed International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.

1916 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.

1917 – Great Britain pledged the release of all the Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.

1919 – Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur W. Brown won $50,000 for successfully completing the first, non-stop trans-Atlantic plane flight.

1938 – Johnny Vandemeer (Cincinnati Reds) pitched his second straight no-hitter.

1940 – The French fortress of Verdun was captured by Germans.

1944 – American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II.

1947 – The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India.

1948 – Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn would be closed indefinitely “for repairs.”

1958 – Greece severed military ties to Turkey because of the Cypress issue.

1964 – The last French troops left Algeria.

1978 – King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.

1981 – The U.S. agreed to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in military and economic aid from October 1982 to October 1987.

1982 – In the capital city of Stanley, the Falklands war ended as Argentine troops surrendered to the British.

1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced its position on abortion by striking down state and local restriction on abortions.

1986 – Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, reported that the chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear plant was dismissed for mishandling the incident at the plant.

1992 – It was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that the government could kidnap criminal suspects from foreign countries for prosecution.

1992 – U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a student to spell “potato” with an “e” on the end during a spelling bee. He had relied on a faulty flash card that had been written by the student’s teacher.

1994 – Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.

1999 – South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.