In the case of Marian Johnson, et al. v. Kristine L. Fankell (1996), the United States Supreme Court ruled that a state employee cannot sue another state employee in federal court for alleged violation of their constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C §1983 when the defendant is acting within their official capacity but can be sued as an individual if they were acting outside of it. The plaintiff, Marian Johnson, was a probation officer who claimed she was fired by her supervisor, Kristine L. Fankell, due to gender discrimination and retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights. However, because Fankell acted in her official capacity as a supervisor at all times relevant to this case and did not violate any clearly established statutory or constitutional rights that every reasonable person would have known about at that time; therefore she had qualified immunity from being sued under Section 1983.

In the dissenting opinion for Johnson v. Fankell, Justice Ginsburg argued that the Court's decision to deny state officials immunity from federal claims in state court was inconsistent with previous rulings and could potentially undermine federal rights. She pointed out that historically, qualified immunity has been granted to protect government officials from being held personally liable for discretionary actions performed within their official capacity unless they violated "clearly established" law. By denying this protection in state courts, she believed it would discourage public servants from performing their duties due to fear of personal liability. Furthermore, she expressed concern that this ruling might deter individuals from pursuing valid federal claims if they are forced into a hostile or unsympathetic state forum where there is no guarantee of immunity protections.