The following excerpt is from Portnoy v. City of Woodland, No. 2:11-cv-1720-GEB-EFB PS (E.D. Cal. 2013):
Undoubtedly, there was a clearly established at the time of the incident in question a right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. However, the inquiry as to qualified immunity must be more focused than that. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 639 (1987). Rather, the focus must be on whether the law was sufficiently settled such that a reasonable officer would know that his or her conduct in question was unlawful. Thus, "[t]o be clearly established, 'in the light of pre-existing law the unlawfulness must be apparent.'" A.D. v.
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