Maropulos v. County of Los Angeles (9th Cir. - March 24, 2009)

Reading between the lines: "Qualified immunity appeals are difficult enough without the district court making it harder by merely stating: 'Motion denied.' When that's all we see, we can't tell if it's an insufficiency of the evidence problem (for which appeals are not available) or otherwise. The Third Circuit, faced with this same problem, now requires district courts to explain its denials. We will 'embrace' this 'principle' and 'encourage' the district courts in the Ninth Circuit to do so as well. Follow our lead on this one or you'll shortly find that our 'encouragement' will turn into something else."