Civil Rights & Strategy Series — Section 1983 Litigation focuses on 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and its use as the primary civil tool for developing constitutional law against state and local governmental entities. It includes the basic building blocks used to construct constitutional challenges against state and local governments, as well as their officials, and the defenses employed to defeat constitutional challenges. It focuses on proper plaintiffs as well as the proper defendants and includes the elements of the § 1983 cause of action and the defenses commonly raised to § 1983 claims. These defenses include qualified and absolute immunities, as well as the Eleventh Amendment and various abstention doctrines. The book also includes succinct discussions of Article III standing doctrine, recoverable damages, statutes of limitations, and jury trials, as well as the necessary discussions of procedural rules and statutory limitations and extensions of these problems, and concludes with a thorough discussion of recoverable attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b).