The Procedural Technical Rule in Pearson v. Callahan

In Pearson v. Callahan, federal courts can throw out a case by saying whatever the right is, it's not clearly established yet. This allows them to skip over the question of what the actual right is and whether or not it was violated before getting to the question of whether it was clearly established. The court doesn't actually make a decision on the merits. So if the situation comes up again they can't look at their past decisions and say, well, we decided that was excessive force.