Supreme Court Hears Case on Arrests Motivated by Politics

In a lively

on Wednesday, the justices returned to a thorny question that has engaged them at least three other times: When can people sue over arrests they say were motivated by retaliation for criticism of the government?

The general rule is that the existence of probable cause for the arrest is enough to bar lawsuits claiming retaliation in violation of the First Amendment.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said that was a…