Why this matters now
The decision is a significant marker on what counts as “consensual” police encounters in one of the most constrained spaces in American travel—the airplane jet bridge. The court described a county practice of stopping passengers after boarding passes were scanned, holding IDs and tickets, and questioning travelers about drugs—conduct that, taken as alleged, could amount to unreasonable seizures without reasonable suspicion. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
The road to appeal
André (star of The Eric André Show) and English say officers from Clayton County’s Airport Interdiction Unit stopped them on jet bridges at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and interrogated them without any individualized suspicion. They filed suit in October 2022. A district judge dismissed the case in September 2023, ruling the encounters were voluntary. The comedians appealed in January 2024.
What the Eleventh Circuit actually held
Writing for a panel that included Judges Jill Pryor, Elizabeth L. Branch, and Hull, Judge Branch concluded the complaint plausibly alleges that the jet-bridge encounters were seizures—and that, as alleged, they were unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment because officers lacked reasonable suspicion. The panel sent the Fourth Amendment claims against Clayton County forward under Monell, emphasizing the allegations describe a county program that “directs the county’s officers to violate passengers’ Fourth Amendment rights.” Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
At the same time, the panel affirmed dismissal of Equal Protection claims and claims against individual officers, holding plaintiffs had not plausibly alleged that any specific officer acted with discriminatory purpose (a requirement for Equal Protection liability) and that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity.
