The Supreme Court dealt a blow to police reform in two unanimous decisions on Monday shielding officers from lawsuits accusing them of illegal brutality. Both rulings endorse a nearly insurmountable version of qualified immunity, the doctrine that protects police and other state officials from suit, raising the bar even higher for victims of unconstitutional conduct. The rulings are a major setback for the campaign to rein in qualified immunity and a clear signal that a majority of the court remains eager to protect violent officers from accountability.
Each of Monday’s decisions involves claims of unconstitutional force. In the first, Rivas-Villegas v. Cortesluna, officers shot a man with a “bean bag round” (actually a lead shot in cloth) twice at close range because he had a knife pointing face up in his pants pocket. The officers then kneeled on the man’s back for eight seconds. In the second case, Tahlequah v. Bond, officers fatally shot a man because he refused to drop a hammer that he was allegedly wielding as a weapon. The plaintiffs in both cases accused the officers of violating the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against excessive force. The officers sought to dismiss the suits by asserting qualified immunity.
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