Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
E403301
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly expanded the scope of civil rights lawsuits against state and local officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, allowing individuals to sue for constitutional violations even when the officials’ actions were unauthorized by state law.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961) canonical | 1 |
| Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961), in part | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3981295 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961) Context triple: [42 U.S.C. § 1983, interpretedBy, Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961)]
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A.
Hansberry v. Lee
Hansberry v. Lee is a landmark 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case involving racially restrictive housing covenants that helped inspire the themes of Lorraine Hansberry’s play "A Raisin in the Sun."
-
B.
Yick Wo v. Hopkins
Yick Wo v. Hopkins is an 1886 U.S. Supreme Court case that held racially discriminatory enforcement of a facially neutral law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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C.
NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.
NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. is a landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case that held nonviolent civil rights boycotts and related advocacy are protected by the First Amendment.
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D.
Katzenbach v. Morgan
Katzenbach v. Morgan is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibit certain state voting restrictions, reinforcing federal authority to protect voting rights.
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E.
Barron v. Baltimore
Barron v. Baltimore is an 1833 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the Bill of Rights restricts only the federal government, not the states.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961) Target entity description: Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly expanded the scope of civil rights lawsuits against state and local officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, allowing individuals to sue for constitutional violations even when the officials’ actions were unauthorized by state law.
-
A.
Hansberry v. Lee
Hansberry v. Lee is a landmark 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case involving racially restrictive housing covenants that helped inspire the themes of Lorraine Hansberry’s play "A Raisin in the Sun."
-
B.
Yick Wo v. Hopkins
Yick Wo v. Hopkins is an 1886 U.S. Supreme Court case that held racially discriminatory enforcement of a facially neutral law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
-
C.
NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.
NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. is a landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case that held nonviolent civil rights boycotts and related advocacy are protected by the First Amendment.
-
D.
Katzenbach v. Morgan
Katzenbach v. Morgan is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibit certain state voting restrictions, reinforcing federal authority to protect voting rights.
-
E.
Barron v. Baltimore
Barron v. Baltimore is an 1833 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the Bill of Rights restricts only the federal government, not the states.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Section 1983 case
ⓘ
United States Supreme Court case ⓘ civil rights case ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
local officials
ⓘ
police officers ⓘ state officials ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
civil rights law
ⓘ
constitutional law ⓘ federal courts ⓘ |
| citation | 365 U.S. 167 ⓘ |
| constitutionalRightInvolved | Fourth Amendment rights as incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment ⓘ |
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1961 ⓘ |
| defendant |
Ben Pape
ⓘ
Chicago police officers ⓘ |
| dissentBy | Charles E. Whittaker ⓘ |
| effectOnLaw | Expanded the interpretation of "under color of" state law to include misuse of power possessed by virtue of state law. ⓘ |
| effectOnLitigation | Led to a substantial increase in Section 1983 lawsuits in federal courts. ⓘ |
| factualBackground | Chicago police officers allegedly conducted an early-morning, warrantless, and abusive search of the Monroe home and detained James Monroe without proper legal process. ⓘ |
| fullCaseName | James Monroe et al. v. Ben Pape et al. ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
The case is considered a foundational decision in modern Section 1983 jurisprudence.
ⓘ
The decision encouraged the use of federal courts to vindicate constitutional rights against state and local officials. ⓘ The decision greatly expanded the availability of federal civil rights lawsuits against state and local officials. ⓘ |
| holding |
A municipality is not a "person" within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and therefore is not subject to suit for damages under that statute.
ⓘ
Actions taken by state and local officials under color of state law can give rise to liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 even if those actions are not authorized by state law. ⓘ Exhaustion of state judicial remedies is not a prerequisite to bringing a Section 1983 action in federal court. ⓘ Section 1983 provides a federal cause of action for damages for violations of constitutional rights by state and local officials acting under color of state law. ⓘ |
| issue |
Whether a municipality is a "person" subject to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
ⓘ
Whether plaintiffs must exhaust state remedies before bringing a Section 1983 action in federal court. ⓘ Whether police officers who violate the Constitution while acting under color of state law can be sued for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 even when their conduct is unauthorized by state law. ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | federal question jurisdiction ⓘ |
| keyConcept |
federal cause of action for constitutional violations
ⓘ
municipal liability under Section 1983 ⓘ non-exhaustion of state remedies in Section 1983 actions ⓘ under color of state law ⓘ |
| laterOverruledInPartBy | Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) ⓘ |
| legalProvisionInterpreted |
42 U.S.C. § 1983
ⓘ
Due Process Clause ⓘ
surface form:
Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment ⓘ
surface form:
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
|
| majorityOpinionBy | William J. Brennan Jr. ⓘ |
| overruledAspect | The holding that municipalities are not "persons" under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 was overruled by Monell v. Department of Social Services. ⓘ |
| plaintiff | James Monroe ⓘ |
| relatedCase |
The Civil Rights Cases (1883)
ⓘ
surface form:
Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883)
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) ⓘ Screws v. United States ⓘ
surface form:
Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91 (1945)
|
| remedyType | damages ⓘ |
| statutoryContext |
Civil Rights Act of 1871
ⓘ
surface form:
Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871
Reconstruction-era civil rights legislation ⓘ |
| vote | 8–1 decision ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961) Description of subject: Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly expanded the scope of civil rights lawsuits against state and local officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, allowing individuals to sue for constitutional violations even when the officials’ actions were unauthorized by state law.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
→
overruledPrecedent
→
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961), in part