The US Supreme Court in Johnson v. City of Shelby, Mississippi held that pleadings under FRCP 8(a)(2) call for "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief," and do not require a statement of a legal theory supporting the claim (574 U.S. __ (2014)).

Plaintiffs-petitioners, police officers for the city of Shelby, Mississippi, alleged that they were fired because they brought to light criminal activities of one of the aldermen. They sued the city for due process violations under the Fourteenth Amendment and sought compensatory relief. The district court granted summary judgment against the plaintiffs.

On appeal, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed, finding that the plaintiffs failed to invoke 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in their complaint. The Fifth Circuit determined that invoking § 1983 was required because it served a notice function.

The Supreme Court reversed and held that failure to invoke § 1983 did not warrant dismissing the complaint. The Court reasoned that the FRCP discourage battles over the form of statement and civil cases turning on technicalities. The Court further found that its decisions in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) were inapposite as they relate to inadequate pleading of factual allegations, which were not deficient in this case.