While Vice President Al Gore began giving a speech, Katz removed the banner from his jacket, started to unfold it, and walked toward the fence and speakers' platform.

Petitioner Donald Saucier, a military police officer on duty that day, had been warned by his superiors of the possibility of demonstrations with Katz being previously identified as a potential protester.

Saucier and Sergeant Steven Parker, another military police officer, moved to intercept Katz as he walked toward the fence.

The Supreme Court, in an opinion delivered by Justice Kennedy, held that Saucier was entitled to qualified immunity.

"[4] In its 2009 decision in Pearson v. Callahan[5] the Supreme Court modified the two-step immunity analysis imposed in Saucier to make its application less restrictive.