Hughes v. Duncan

93 F.4th 374

Jeffrey HUGHES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Zane DUNCAN; Gary M. Faulcon; Tim Gobble; Mae Beavers;Roberta Nevil Kustoff; Barrett Rich, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 22-6004

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

Argued: July 27, 2023

Decided and Filed: February 15, 2024

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee at Nashville. No. 3:22-cv-00238—Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., District Judge.

ARGUED: Melissa K. Dix, HORWITZ LAW, PLLC, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellant. Dean S. Atyia, OFFICE OF THE TENNESSEE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Melissa K. Dix, Daniel A. Horwitz, Lindsay E. Smith, HORWITZ LAW, PLLC, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellant. Dean S. Atyia, Cody N. Brandon, OFFICE OF THE TENNESSEE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellees.

Before: GIBBONS, READLER, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

CHAD A. READLER, Circuit Judge.

Jeffrey Hughes was incarcerated in Tennessee state prison. Believing that a recent change in state law entitled him to an earlier-than-scheduled parole hearing, he asked the Tennessee Board of Parole to move up his hearing date. The Board refused. In the end, Hughes was paroled about three months after the date he believed he became eligible for release. That delay prompted Hughes to file a federal lawsuit against the members of the Board, alleging overincarceration. The district court dismissed the case on the ground that defendants were absolutely immune from suit for their acts. We agree and affirm.

I.

Jeffrey Hughes was sentenced to a 27-year term of imprisonment in Tennessee. Tennessee law afforded him the opportunity to be released on parole before he served his entire sentence, beginning on a statutory "release eligibility date." Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-501(a)(1) (West 2024). For Hughes, that day was September 30, 2021. More than a year before that date, the Tennessee Board of Parole held an initial parole hearing for Hughes. At the hearing's close, the Board denied Hughes parole, and set a second hearing for July 2022.

After the parole denial, the Tennessee Legislature enacted the Reentry Success Act, which altered the Volunteer State's parole law. 2021 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 410, § 12 (codified as amended at Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-503(i)(1) (West 2024)). Through the Act, Tennessee established (with certain exceptions) a "presumption that an eligible inmate must be released on parole" upon the release eligibility date "or any subsequent parole hearing." Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-503(i)(1) (West 2024). Hughes read the Act's presumption of release to apply to him. So he wrote the Board to request that it either release him or move up the date of his second parole hearing. The Board rebuffed his request on two grounds. One, as a legal matter, the Board did not understand the Act to apply retroactively to prior parole denials. Second, as a practical matter, the Board believed it lacked the "ability or resources necessary" to reschedule hearings for Tennessee inmates who had already had unsuccessful parole hearings.

Undeterred, Hughes sought review of the Board's decision through a writ of certiorari in state chancery court. His efforts were rewarded when the chancery court sided with Hughes. It held that Tennessee law entitled Hughes to a second parole hearing "within a reasonable time of [his] release eligibility date." To effectuate that right, the court ordered the Board to set a parole hearing within 60 days of his eligibility date. The Board complied, holding a hearing in November 2021. Finding Hughes eligible for parole, the Board ordered his release. A month later, Hughes exited prison.

A free man, Hughes filed this suit against six defendants, all members of the Board when Hughes unsuccessfully petitioned for release. Invoking 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Hughes's complaint alleged that defendants violated his procedural due process rights by depriving him of a protected liberty interest in parole without a timely hearing. The district court concluded that defendants were entitled to absolute immunity, and thus dismissed the complaint. Hughes filed a timely appeal.

II.

The district court dismissed Hughes's case on absolute immunity grounds, an issue we review de novo. Rieves v. Town of Smyrna, Tenn., 959 F.3d 678, 690 (6th Cir. 2020). In turning to that issue, we highlight an underlying legal principle: judicial immunity. Federal common law has long afforded judges absolute immunity from suits for money damages arising out of actions taken in a judge's official judicial capacity. Morgan v. Bd. of Prof. Resp. of the Sup. Ct. of Tenn., 63 F.4th 510, 518 (6th Cir. 2023). Originating in the Middle Ages, this body of law developed as a means to discourage collateral attacks on judicial decisions and to protect judges from vexatious litigation. Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219, 225, 108 S.Ct. 538, 98 L.Ed.2d 555 (1988).

From this settled body of law, today's case presents a wrinkle, as Hughes does not challenge a decision made by judges. Rather, he challenges actions by state parole board members. But the judicial immunity principle remains salient, as this manner of immunity has been extended to executive officials whose adjudicatory duties resemble those of a judge. See Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 513-14, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978). The common law adapted in this way out of a recognition that those performing judicial functions, regardless of their specific titles, require special protection from "harassment [and] intimidation." Id. at 512, 98 S.Ct. 2894. For these reasons, courts grant absolute immunity to officials whose duties are functionally comparable to those of a judge. See Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 423 n.20, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976) ("It is the functional comparability of their judgments to those of the judge that has resulted in both grand jurors and prosecutors being referred to as 'quasi-judicial' officers, and their immunities being termed 'quasi-judicial' as well."). Examples are plentiful. See, e.g., Yaselli v. Goff, 275 U.S. 503, 48 S.Ct. 155, 72 L.Ed. 395 (1927), aff'g 12 F.2d 396 (2d Cir. 1926) (applying absolute immunity to public prosecutors under the common law); Butz, 438 U.S. at 514, 98 S.Ct. 2894 (extending absolute immunity to executive administrative law judges); Foster v. Walsh, 864 F.2d 416, 418 (6th Cir. 1988) (concluding that a clerk issuing an arrest warrant was performing a judicial act to which absolute immunity attached); Watts v. Burkhart, 978 F.2d 269, 278 (6th Cir. 1992) (en banc) (granting absolute immunity to members of a state board of medical examiners); Bush v. Rauch, 38 F.3d 842, 847 (6th Cir. 1994) (extending absolute immunity to an official performing an "integral part[ ] of the judicial function" by carrying out a court order); Bon-Ing, Inc. v. Hodges, 700 F. App'x 461, 464-65 (6th Cir. 2017) (granting immunity to Ohio Department of Health employees in an "adjudicatory" role).

Butz articulates two considerations that inform whether an executive employee performs an adjudicatory function deserving of absolute immunity. 438 U.S. at 513-14, 98 S.Ct. 2894. One, are the employee's powers "comparable" to those of a judge? Id. at 513, 98 S.Ct. 2894. Two, are there safeguards that "tend to reduce the need for private damages actions as a means of controlling unconstitutional conduct?" Id. at 512, 98 S.Ct. 2894. Examples include "[t]he insulation of the [individual] from political influence, the importance of precedent in resolving controversies, the adversary nature of the process, and the correctability of error on appeal." Id.; see also Cleavinger v. Saxner, 474 U.S. 193, 202, 106 S.Ct. 496, 88 L.Ed.2d 507 (1985) (summarizing the Butz factors and describing them as non-exhaustive). We examine those same issues here, in the context of decisionmaking by the Parole Board.

A. Reflecting on the Board's responsibilities and procedures, myriad factors support the conclusion that its members are absolutely immune from damages suits challenging its decision on when to hold a parole hearing. Initially, we note that the Board, in deciding parole eligibility, functions "in a quasi-judicial capacity." Sellars v. Procunier, 641 F.2d 1295, 1301 n.15 (9th Cir. 1981) (quoting Bricker v. Mich. Parole Bd., 405 F. Supp. 1340, 1345 (E.D. Mich. 1975)); see also Hilliard v. Williams, 465 F.2d 1212, 1217 (6th Cir. 1972) ("The immunity of quasi-judicial officers such as prosecuting attorneys and parole board members derives, not from their formal association with the judicial process, but from the fact that they exercise a discretion similar to that exercised by judges." (quoting McCray v. State of Maryland, 456 F.2d 1, 3 (4th Cir. 1972))). In making decisions to grant, deny, or revoke parole, the Board in effect acts as "an arm of the sentencing judge." Sellars, 641 F.2d at 1301 n.15; Peoples v. Leon, 63 F.4th 132, 138-39 (2d Cir. 2023); Tobey v. Chibucos, 890 F.3d 634, 650 (7th Cir. 2018); Cheatham v. Muse, 617 F. App'x 252, 254 (4th Cir. 2015) (per curiam); Figg v. Russell, 433 F.3d 593, 598 (8th Cir. 2006); Johnson v. R.I. Parole Bd. Members, 815 F.2d 5, 8 (1st Cir. 1987) (per curiam). Like judges, board members make parole determinations with an eye towards both prisoner rehabilitation and protecting society at large. Sellars, 641 F.2d at 1301 n.15 (quoting Bricker, 405 F. Supp. at 1345)).

Hughes's case presents a variation on this theme. He, by and large, does not challenge an ultimate parole determination, as that manner of decision is plainly subject to judicial immunity. Rather Hughes's focus is on defendants' decision not to reschedule his hearing date to occur in advance of his release eligibility date. Whether absolute immunity applies in that setting is assessed on a "functional" basis—individuals are entitled to immunity for actions taken in the course of judicial proceedings, but not for those that are merely administrative in nature. Bush,...