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Ashcroft v. Iqbal

Supreme Court of the United States (2009) | 173 L. Ed. 2d 868; 129 S. Ct. 1937; 556 U.S. 662; 2009 U.S. LEXIS 3472

4 min read

TL;DR: The Supreme Court established a 'plausibility' standard for all civil complaints, requiring plaintiffs to plead sufficient factual matter, not just legal conclusions, to state a claim. A complaint alleging discrimination by high-level officials was dismissed for failing to meet this heightened standard.

Legal Significance: Along with *Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly*, this case created the 'Twiqbal' standard, retiring the *Conley v. Gibson* 'no set of facts' test and requiring factual allegations that make a claim plausible, not merely conceivable, to survive a motion to dismiss under FRCP 8(a).