Katz

Army Private Donald Saucier (“Saucier”), acting as a military police officer, arrested Elliot M. Katz (“Katz”) during a public event at the San Francisco Presidio. Katz was holding up a sign when he was arrested. According to Katz, Saucier and another officer grabbed him, tore the sign out of his hands, dragged him fifty feet, and violently tossed him into a van. Katz brought a Bivens action against Saucier and others for violations of his constitutional rights. See Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 , 91 S.Ct. 1999 , 29 *965 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971). Saucier filed a motion for summary judgment, contending he was entitled to qualified immunity. The district court denied Saucier’s motion as to Katz’s Fourth Amendment claim, which was grounded on Saucier’s alleged use of excessive force in effecting Katz’s arrest. Saucier appeals.

Saucier contends that, although our circuit has a long line of cases in which we have held that the reasonableness inquiry on the merits of a Fourth Amendment excessive force claim is the same as the reasonableness inquiry posed by a qualified immunity defense, these cases conflict with our en banc holding in Hammer…