Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper | |
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Argued November 30, 2011 Decided March 28, 2012 | |
Full case name | Federal Aviation Administration, Social Security Administration, United States Department of Transportation, Petitioners v. Stanmore Cawthon Cooper |
Docket no. | 10-1024 |
Citations | 566 U.S. 284 (more) 132 S. Ct. 1441; 182 L. Ed. 2d 497; 2012 U.S. LEXIS 2539; 80 U.S.L.W. 4289; 23 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 222 |
Argument | Oral argument |
Case history | |
Prior | Summary judgment for respondent, 816 F. Supp. 2d 778 (N.D. Cal. 2008); reversed and remanded, 596 F.3d 538 (9th Cir. 2010); rehearing denied, 622 F.3d 1016 (9th Cir. 2010); cert. granted, 564 U.S. 1018 (2011). |
Holding | |
The authorization of suits against the government for “actual damages” in the Privacy Act of 1974 is not sufficiently clear to constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity from suits for mental and emotional distress. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Alito, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas |
Dissent | Sotomayor, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer |
Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
Laws applied | |
Privacy Act of 1974 |
Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 284 (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that "actual damages" under the Privacy Act of 1974 is not clear enough to allow damages for suits for mental and emotional distress.[1] The reasoning behind this is that the United States Congress, when authorizing suit against the government, must be clear in waiving the government's sovereign immunity.