Law that protects you from police coming to your house for one thing and arresing you for contraband3/1/2024 ![]() ![]() In a 2018 ruling, Sotomayor wrote that with the immunity, police can “shoot first and think later, and it tells the public that palpably unreasonable conduct will go unpunished.” Justice Thomas has said qualified immunity has no historical basis and was invented by judges. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, on different ends of the political spectrum, have each written about the dangers of qualified immunity. Nearly every year for the last decade, the Supreme Court has taken up at least one case involving qualified immunity for police and nearly always rules in favor of police. The central friction is whether it is reasonable to ask police to enforce the law without protection from frivolous lawsuits - while that very protection may enable police to overreact and abuse people without the fear of being sued. Democrats want to end qualified immunity for police, but Republicans say that idea goes too far. A key sticking point is the notion of “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that keeps police officers safe from civil lawsuits. What is ‘qualified immunity’ for police?Ĭongress is kicking around ideas for reforming police departments. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.Ī note from Al: I am going to go into a bit of unusual depth on this first item because it is a hot topic that deserves your attention and there are so many local angles for you to explore. Covering COVID-19 is a daily Poynter briefing of story ideas about the coronavirus and other timely topics for journalists, written by senior faculty Al Tompkins. ![]()
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