Supreme Court Makes It Effectively Impossible To Sue Federal Cops
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  Supreme Court Makes It Effectively Impossible To Sue Federal Cops
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Author Topic: Supreme Court Makes It Effectively Impossible To Sue Federal Cops  (Read 448 times)
dead0man
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« on: June 21, 2022, 11:27:12 PM »

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The justices announced today—exactly 51 years after the Court handed down Bivens—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 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 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.

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—Hamdi Mohamud and Kevin Byrd, respectively—may not sue them for disgracing their positions.

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What's ironic, however, is that the U.S. government—which isn't exactly known for supporting accountability—admitted before the Supreme Court that there should be instances in which a victim can sue federal officers. More ironic is that Michael Huston, assistant to the solicitor general, made that argument during oral arguments for Egbert v. Boule, the case concerning the rogue CBP agent. Most ironic: The circumstances Huston outlined as the right and proper context to sue federal officials fit both Mohamud's and Byrd's petitions.

    Chief Justice John Roberts: Mr. Huston, give me a hypothetical case where your office would say Bivens permits a cause of action.

    Huston: Sure, Your Honor. In a case involving an FBI agent or an agent of the Park Police or the Marshals Service, something other than the Federal Bureau of Narcotics or its successor, the DEA, but that is a routine domestic search-and-seizure claim or a [sic] excessive force claim.

Yet the Supreme Court covertly declined to leave those vestiges behind after ravaging its own 1971 decision. "Overturning precedent is generally disfavored activity," adds Bidwell. "But when the Court does it, it should at least have the courage of its convictions and stand up and tell the public."
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DaleCooper
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« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2022, 01:10:21 AM »

If you want to break the law and get away with it, become a cop. Apparently a federal one.
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weatherboy1102
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« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2022, 03:15:34 AM »

oh great so no repercussions for actual thugs in blue, got it. Great way to help bolster the people who want to actually abolish police, guys.
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Donerail
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« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2022, 06:56:01 PM »

tbf it was already effectively impossible to sue federal officers -- every Bivens claim brought up to the court since 1980 has failed
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