Geo Group, Inc. v. Menocal · ¶65

Nonetheless, the majority's rule cannot fully explain our collateral-order case law. For instance, qualified immunity is an immunity from suit, yet its applicability can and often does turn on whether a defendant violated the law. See District of Columbia v. Wesby, 583 U. S. 48, 62–63 (2018). Indeed, before this Court decided Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U. S. 223 (2009), a court evaluating a qualified-immunity defense had to resolve the legality of the defendant's alleged conduct. Id., at 232; see, e. g., Scott v. Harris, 550 U. S. 372, 377 (2007). We nevertheless treated (and continue to treat) denials of qualified immunity as collateral orders.

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