The Eighth Circuit, in rehearing en banc, recently held that there is no clearly established due process right to informational privacy. The court therefore reversed the denial of qualified 
immunity to city and county officials who had disclosed to a tabloid information about childhood sexual abuse allegedly committed against the plaintiffs.
The case—Dillard v. O’Kelley, 961 F.3d 1048 (8th Cir. 2020) (en banc)—began with an anonymous tip made to the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline in December 2006. In response to the call, County and city law enforcement conducted an investigation into whether an 18-year-old man had, several years ago on various occasions, molested four of his younger sisters and a fifth unnamed individual. The investigation included interviews with the four sisters, their siblings, and their parents. At the time of the interviews, the sisters were all under the age of 16. Law enforcement promised the family that their statements would remain confidential. No criminal charges were filed.
