Left, right, center, whatever. Everyone should be on board with getting rid of it regardless of political affiliation, there are reasons for everyone to hate that qualified immunity for government workers/agents is a thing.
> The case refers to the incident in Jackson, Mississippi where 15 Episcopal priests were arrested after entering the coffee shop at the local Trailways bus terminal. The group were part of 28 priests from Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity, ...
> On September 13, 1961, a group of 15 including three black priests took taxis from Tougaloo into the nearby Jackson Trailways bus terminal to catch the bus to Chattanooga. When entering the coffee shop to have lunch before their departure, they were stopped by two policemen, Officers David Allison Nichols and Joseph David Griffith, who asked them to leave. After the priests refused to leave, Captain J. L. Ray arrested and jailed all 15 priests for breach of peace, using a now-repealed section of the Mississippi code § 2087.5 that "makes guilty of a misdemeanor anyone who congregates with others in a public place under circumstances such that a breach of the peace may be occasioned thereby, and refuses to move on when ordered to do so by a police officer."
> The group included 35-year-old Reverend Robert L. Pierson, who was son-in-law to the Republican Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller. They were brought to trial before the local judge James Spencer who found them guilty of breach of peace and sentenced them to four months in jail and $200 fine.
> Represented by Carl Rachlin, the chief legal counsel at Congress of Racial Equality, they sought damages in the Jackson district court before Judge Sidney Mize, alleging the police and the local judge had violated Title 42, Section 1983 of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act by false arrest and imprisonment for exercising their civil rights. However, the jury found in favor of the police who said they were trying to prevent imminent violence from a gathered crowd, contradicting the evidence of the priests.
> On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that the local judge was immune from liability for his decision. Although the appeal court found the Mississippi code unconstitutional, it found that "Mississippi law does not require police officers to predict at their peril which state laws are constitutional and which are not."
The case discussed in the article is very different as police officers just believed they acted within the law. That should certainly not be enough.
As a police officer in 1950, being informed of an, according to then current state law, illegal abortion, how on earth could you know what would happen later? Today, could you be sure that last ruling won’t be overturned again?
Isn't that such an interestingly insane question? Qualified immunity lets people walk around unironically debating whether "just following orders" should be a valid thing that cops get away with doing.
As for the cop that "just follows orders" and arrests a newlywed gay couple in 2023 (an entirely feasible thing considering what's happening with women seeking healthcare in Texas), is that a Good Cop, or a Bad Cop?
That's the thing, for civilians ignorance of the law is no excuse. But for police ignorance of the law is not only expected, but it also protects them from civil litigation.
Judges gonna make judgements - that's their job. It's in the nature of judgements that they're not right or wrong. But in this case, the judge didn't even make the judgement; it was made by a jury.
It's not a good look to try and get a judge convicted for doing his job.
It has no bearing on suing organizations or departments, such as this lawsuit, AFAIK
> What’s more, the officers had good reason to believe they had probable cause. Both the City’s Law Director and the judges who issued the warrants agreed with them. Reassurance from no fewer than three other officials further supports finding that the officers “reasonably,” even if “mistakenly,” concluded that probable cause existed. Wesby, 138 S. Ct. at 591 (cleaned up). That’s enough to shield Riley and Connor [the cops who arrested him] from liability.
The reason qualified immunity is such a huge problem is that it's even harder to sue departments. There's a bunch of weird rulings that have the result that in America people who's rights are violated tend to need to sue individuals, who are then defended by the government. (If a cop loses a lawsuit the only consequence tends to be that the city's police misconduct insurance premium goes up)
In this case he also tried to sue the municipality, but that lost too
> Finally, Novak contends that Parma had an establ ished custom and pattern of “indifference to protected speech in criminal investigations.” Appellant’s Br. 57. And he runs through a list of cases where Parma had to reverse course over protected does not explain how this list of cspeech claims. But he ases could form a “clear and persistent pattern” so strong that it resembles official policy condoned by the City. 432 (6th Cir. 2005). Thomas v. City of Chattanooga , 398 F.3d 426, Perhaps unsurprising, since it’s a “heavy burden” to show municipal liabi lity based on custom. Id. at 433. Novak doesn’t even suggest (as he must) that this pattern resulted from a deliberate choice “from among various alternatives” that amounts to an unwritten “legal institution.” 507Doe v. Claiborne County ex rel. Claiborne C nty. Bd. of Educ. 08 (6th Cir. 1996) (cleaned up). Nor does he explain how that policy — , 103 F.3d 495, despite independent warrants from Magistrate Judge Fink and Judge O’Donnell See Thomas , 398 F.3d at 429 (quoting Doe — caused a constitutional violation. , 103 F.3d at 508). He simply argues that “Parma should have known better.” Appellant’s Br. 58. This is not enough to support a finding of municipal liability, so we affirm.
https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/22a0090p-06.pd...
But where they make a mistake, the police department should be paying any compensation for places their behaviour falls short of the actual law.
That translates to cops never being liable, because they’d have to be caught confessing to it on tape for a “honest belief” defense to fail
> But where they make a mistake, the police department should be paying any compensation for places their behaviour falls short of the actual law.
That translates to the taxpayer paying for it, when odds are the taxpayer is also affected by it. So cop remains unbothered and taxes are used to compensate taxpayers for cop errors.
Same as if you repeatedly break stuff at work... At some point your boss decides enough is enough and fires you.
In general, if I break the law at work, I'm probably gonna lose my job. If I break stuff on purpose I'm gonna get fired.
If I "break" stuff that just breaks as part of my job (or was in ill repair), I don't expect to get fired and if I do, I have a claim.
About the only "eventually fired" that I can think of is by operating something in a way that it breaks despite being trained (repeatedly) in the correct manner.
This isn’t what qualified immunity is about at all, but you know, that’s why.