{"id":8450,"date":"2022-07-26T16:13:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T16:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8450"},"modified":"2022-07-26T16:13:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T16:13:47","slug":"supreme-court-makes-it-effectively-impossible-to-sue-federal-cops-smashing-a-51-year-old-precedent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8450","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Makes It Effectively Impossible To Sue Federal Cops, Smashing a 51-Year-Old Precedent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“the Supreme Court partially opted to dismantle Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics<\/em><\/a>\u2014its 1971 decision that allowed a man to sue federal officers who searched his home without a warrant and then strip-searched him at a courthouse\u2014not by hearing a case and deciding on the merits but by refusing to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The justices announced..51 years after the Court handed down Bivens\u2014<\/em>that they would decline to consider two major petitions. In the first, St. Paul Police Department Officer Heather Weyker, who was serving on a federal task force, conjured a fake sex-trafficking ring<\/a> and jailed a teenage girl for two years on trumped-up charges. In the second, Department of Homeland Security Agent Ray Lamb allegedly tried to kill a man<\/a> who had a personal beef with Lamb’s son; video appears to show Lamb attempting to pull the trigger of his gun, though it jammed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal courts in both cases agreed with what may sound intuitive: Both Weyker and Lamb violated clearly established law. They are thus not protected by qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that can make it difficult to sue local and state actors when they violate the Constitution. But because they were working for the federal government, they are protected by absolute immunity, the courts said, and their victims\u2014Hamdi Mohamud and Kevin Byrd, respectively\u2014may not sue them for disgracing their positions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By demurring at hearing those cases, the Supreme Court has upheld the decisions giving both officers absolute immunity for committing transgressions while policing domestically. “Today’s rulings are basically saying that you can never sue federal officials, period,” notes Bidwell.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Supreme Court Makes It Effectively Impossible To Sue Federal Cops, Smashing a 51-Year-Old Precedent<\/a><\/blockquote>