Thompson v. Clark

Thompson v. Clark
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 12, 2021 Decided April 4, 2022
Full case name	Larry Thompson v. Pagiel Clark, et al.
Docket no.	20-659
Citations	596 U.S. ___ (more)
Argument	Oral argument
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch Brett Kavanaugh · Amy Coney Barrett
Case opinions
Majority	Kavanaugh, joined by Roberts, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett
Dissent	Alito, joined by Thomas, Gorsuch
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. IV, 42 U.S.C. § 1983

Thompson v. Clark, 596 U.S. ___ (2022), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning whether a plaintiff suing for malicious prosecution must show that they were affirmatively exonerated of committing the alleged crime. The Supreme Court, in a 6–3 opinion authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh held that no such requirement existed and that a plaintiff suing for malicious prosecution in the context of a Fourth Amendment "need only show that his prosecution ended without a conviction." Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the majority opinion and was joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch. Media coverage of the decision portrayed the Court's ruling as a victory for civil rights lawsuits.