All judges — even those on courts of “limited jurisdiction,” such as a Municipal Court — are entitled to the protection of absolute immunity for their judicial acts, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
“Irrespective of a judge’s status in the hierarchy of the judicial system, the need for independence and for freedom from the threat of a suit for damages is an indispensable ingredient in the proper administration of justice,” U.S. Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry wrote in her 16-page opinion in Figueroa v. Blackburn.
