Under what condition can qualified immunity be claimed?

Qualified immunity can be claimed when a government official's conduct does not violate previously established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. This doctrine is designed to protect officials from liability when they have acted reasonably in their positions, even if their actions ultimately infringe on someone's rights.

In this case, the focus on whether the conduct violates "clearly established rights" is critical because it indicates that the law must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand their actions to be unlawful. This standard serves to balance the need for accountability for government officials with the recognition that they must have room to make potentially reasonable mistakes in judgment in the performance of their duties. If officials can demonstrate that their actions were not clearly contrary to well-defined rights, they can successfully invoke qualified immunity.

The other options do not align with the established legal criteria for qualified immunity, as they do not address the necessity of clearly established rights in determining whether immunity applies.