| Date | Title | Description |
| 22.08.2024 | The Tightrope of Accountability: Police Liability Insurance and the Quest for Reform | In the landscape of American policing, accountability often feels like a mirage. The recent push for police officers to carry liability insurance is a step toward clarity in a foggy realm. This idea, once a whisper, is now a shout echoing t... |
| 21.08.2024 | NYPD Union Complains After Re-Introduction Of Bill Requiring Officers To Carry Liability Insurance | One of many ideas floated as a solution to police misconduct issues is the requirement that officers carry their own insurance. Almost every law enforcement officer is currently indemnified by the towns and cities that employ them, ensuring... |
| 19.08.2024 | 2nd Circuit To Cop: Someone Observing All The Laws Is Not ‘Probable Cause’ For A Search | It’s about the stupidest thing anyone could claim in defense of an unlawful detention and search, but Waterbury, CT police office Nicholas Andrzejewski did it anyway. He actually told a court (twice!) that someone respecting every single la... |
| 25.06.2024 | Immunity Denied To Cop Whose Shooting Narrative Was Undercut By Other Officers On The Scene | The Ninth Circuit Appeals Court is one of the better circuits when it comes to holding the government accountable for the violence it inflicts on citizens. It’s pretty much the polar opposite of the Fifth Circuit, which can’t seem to forgiv... |
| 12.06.2024 | Sixth Circuit Tells Ohio AG To Stop Blocking Ballot Initiative Calling For End Of Qualified Immunity | Plenty of people don’t care for all the forms of immunity the government has granted itself. And they don’t care for qualified immunity, which is a thing the Supreme Court cooked up on its own.
These multiple forms of immunity have tended t... |
| 23.05.2024 | Federal Judge Says It’s Time To End The ‘Mistake’ Of Qualified Immunity While Handling A Bogus Murder Charge | Qualified immunity is a mess. It’s a mess the Supreme Court created and, to date, seems largely unwilling to fix (despite the occasional remand).
The theory of QI is this: law enforcement officers (and other government employees) should be ... |
| 26.12.2023 | Fifth Circuit Tells Wrongly Convicted Woman She Can’t Sue Over Obvious Judicial Fuckery | When we’re young, impressionable, and financially incapable of donating significant amounts of money to super PACs, we’re taught that the American government is a system of checks and balances. Civics classes explain there are three branche... |
| 22.12.2023 | Appeals Court Denies Immunity To Cops Who Stood Idly By While Someone They Said Had Eaten Coke Died Of An Overdose | Qualified immunity rulings are an unqualified mess. The question doesn’t revolve around whether or not rights were violated. In most cases, they were. |
| 08.11.2023 | Appeals Court: Bad Cloud Data Warrant Good Enough To Jail Someone For Crime Cops Weren’t Even Investigating | Adding to the unearned wins racked up by cops is this decision [PDF] from the Eleventh Circuit Appeals Court. According to the court, figuring out digital stuff is just too complicated. And if it can’t handle the nuances, it certainly can’t... |
| 23.08.2023 | Ohio Court Tells Cops They Need To Know The Law If They’re Going To Engage In Pretextual Stops | Pretextual stops are law enforcement’s favorite way to fish for larger catches. Any minor moving violation can predicate a stop. That leads to conversations — often non-consensual — with drivers and passengers. Any number of factors can be ... |
| 14.08.2023 | Emmett Till All Over Again: Six White Mississippi Cops Plead Guilty To Beating, Torturing Two Black Men | The more things change, etc. We’ll never fully reject this country’s racist history if we insist on stocking our police departments with racists. The horrific events described here do not exist in a vacuum. The officers who felt comfortable... |
| 10.08.2023 | Everyone Makes Mistakes, But When Cops Make Mistakes, The Guns Come Out | There’s a massive gap between how the policed view “reasonable” policing and the view held by those who do the policing. While most of us would prefer more accountability, transparency, and de-escalation, those who claim to “serve and prote... |
| 10.08.2023 | Pregnant Black Woman The Latest Victim Of Detroit PD Facial Recognition False Positive | Facial recognition tech is faulty. It’s an unavoidable fact, especially when it comes to women and minorities. No matter how good the tech, the potential for false positives and negatives remains. And pre-existing biases are amplified by th... |
| 08.11.2022 | Louisiana Cops Sued After Dash Cam Video Showed They Lied About Why They Performed A Pretextual Stop | Courts have continually said pretextual stops are a cool way to engage in law enforcement fishing expeditions. But there are a few caveats. |
| 31.10.2022 | Iowa Appeals Court Affirms State Cops Can’t Use Their Ignorance Of The Law To Justify Traffic Stops | In December 2014, the US Supreme Court extended its blessing of pretextual stops to cover imaginary moving violations. Ignorance of the law is the best excuse, cops were told in the Court’s Heien decision. All cops needed to do was make a “... |
| 27.10.2022 | Ohio Supreme Court Tells Cops They Can’t Hide All Their Use Of Force Reports Under Investigatory Records Exemption | Open records laws were passed because governments simply aren’t interested in voluntarily sharing their documents with the people that foot the bill for both the people and the paper. But governments have to pass these laws, in essence forc... |
| 16.08.2022 | DOJ Charges Officers For No Knock Warrant Lies That Led To The Killing Of Breonna Taylor | There are very few things that are more dangerous for citizens and cops than no-knock warrants. These warrants allow cops to raid houses without announcing themselves, leading those on the receiving end to assume they’re being invaded by ar... |
| 26.04.2022 | Santa Ana (CA) Council Looking To Ban City Cops From Playing Copyrighted Music While Being Recorded | A couple of weeks ago, a police transparency activist caught something on video: a cop trying not to get caught on video. That isn’t the interesting part. Lots of cops hate being recorded, even by their own cameras. |
| 18.04.2022 | Cops Are Still Playing Copyrighted Music To Thwart Citizens Recording Their Actions | Cops may have only the vaguest grasp on the laws they use to initiate stops, but they sure as hell understand copyright law. With algorithms doing the heavy lifting to prevent copyright infringement, cops have deployed a new tactic in hopes... |
| 15.04.2022 | Minneapolis Limits No-Knock Warrants As Prosecutors Decide Cop Can’t Be Charged For Killing Amir Locke During A No-Knock Raid | On February 2, 2022, Minneapolis PD officers executed a no-knock raid on an apartment. Officer Mark Hanneman then summarily executed Amir Locke within seconds of his entry into the apartment. |
| 13.04.2022 | Eleventh Circuit Strips Immunity From Deputy Who Saved A War Vet From Self-Harm By Breaking His Neck | One of the many symptoms of the many, deep-rooted, law enforcement sicknesses is how often officers decide to “help” people by harming them. That’s why some cities have chosen to redirect mental health issues to mental health professionals,... |
| 17.03.2022 | Re-Funding The Police: Taxpayers On The Hook For Billions of Dollars Of Law Enforcement Lawsuit Settlements | Apparently, it’s not enough that we pay their salaries and buy their uniforms, vehicles, and weapons. We’re also expected to foot the bill when law enforcement officers fuck up so badly they can’t even avail themselves of qualified immunity... |
| 15.03.2022 | Beneficiary Of First Amendment Protections Says Fourth Amendment Shouldn’t Be Respected By Cops, Courts | The New York Post editorial team has apparently decided some rights are more important than others. The Post has the First Amendment right to publish its opinion on other rights, even when it’s clearly in the wrong. And it’s willing to do s... |
| 24.02.2022 | San Francisco Cops Are Running Rape Victims' DNA Through Criminal Databases Because What Even The Fuck | There are things people expect the government to do. And then there are the things the government actually does. The government assumes many people are comfortable with things it does that are technically legal, but certainly not how the av... |
| 10.02.2022 | Minneapolis Police Officers Demanded No-Knock Warrant, Killed Innocent Gunowner Nine Seconds After Entering Residence | The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota is temporarily ending the use of no-knock warrants following the killing of 22-year-old Amir Locke by Minneapolis police officers. The city's mayor, Jacob Frey, has placed a moratorium on these warrants un... |
| 10.02.2022 | Minneapolis Police Officers Demanded No-Knock Warrant, Killed Innocent Gunowner Nine Seconds After Entering Residence | The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota is temporarily ending the use of no-knock warrants following the killing of 22-year-old Amir Locke by Minneapolis police officers. The city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, has placed a moratorium on these warrants un... |
| 02.02.2022 | Texas Town To Start Issuing Traffic Tickets By Text Message | Way back in 2014, Oklahoma state senator (and former police officer) Al McAffrey had an idea: what if cops could issue traffic tickets electronically, without ever having to leave the safety and comfort of their patrol cars? |
| 16.11.2021 | Supreme Court Takes A Pass On A Chance To Firmly Establish A Right To Record Police Officers | After taking some positive steps towards trimming the growth of qualified immunity it had itself encouraged for years, the Supreme Court decided to reverse course. Two more cases on the court’s “shadow docket” were sent back to the appellat... |
| 16.11.2021 | Supreme Court Takes A Pass On A Chance To Firmly Establish A Right To Record Police Officers | After taking some positive steps towards trimming the growth of qualified immunity it had itself encouraged for years, the Supreme Court decided to reverse course. Two more cases on the court's "shadow docket" were sent back to th... |
| 25.10.2021 | After Taking A Couple Of Steps Towards Trimming Back Qualified Immunity, The Supreme Court Regresses To The Mean | The Supreme Court spent decades making it all but impossible for citizens to successfully sue law enforcement officers for violating their rights. The Supreme Court created the doctrine of “qualified immunity” nearly 40 years ago and has sp... |
| 25.10.2021 | After Taking A Couple Of Steps Towards Trimming Back Qualified Immunity, The Supreme Court Regresses To The Mean | The Supreme Court spent decades making it all but impossible for citizens to successfully sue law enforcement officers for violating their rights. The Supreme Court created the doctrine of "qualified immunity" nearly 40 years ago ... |
| 24.08.2021 | Congressional Lawmaker Give Up Attempt To Dump Qualified Immunity In Police Reform Efforts | The judicial construct known as qualified immunity will continue to make it harder for people to obtain redress for rights violations… at least for the time being. While there has been a more sustained movement to reform law enforcement acr... |
| 19.08.2021 | 'Blue Line' Apparently Doesn't Apply To Bad Cops Abusing Copyright Law To Prevent Citizens From Uploading Recordings | Last month, Sergeant David Shelby of the Alameda County (CA) Sheriff's Office inducted himself into the Hall O' Internet Infamy by openly admitting to people filming him that he was playing copyrighted music on his phone in hopes of termina... |
| 19.08.2021 | 'Blue Line' Apparently Doesn't Apply To Bad Cops Abusing Copyright Law To Prevent Citizens From Uploading Recordings | Last month, Sergeant David Shelby of the Alameda County (CA) Sheriff’s Office inducted himself into the Hall O’ Internet Infamy by openly admitting to people filming him that he was playing copyrighted music on his phone in hopes of termina... |
| 02.08.2021 | New York Congresswoman Thinks It's Too Hard To Be A Good Cop, Offers Up Bill That Would Codify Qualified Immunity | Last summer, following the George Floyd killing, members of Congress introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. Among other reforms, the bill (since renamed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act) attempted to bring an end to qualifi... |
| 26.04.2021 | Florida Governor Signs Law That Punishes Protesters For Protesting, Denies Them Bail | Even though Florida didn’t see many of the anti-police violence protests that spread across the nation in the wake of the George Floyd killing, its legislature and its governor have apparently decided protesters have it too easy. Governor R... |
| 26.04.2021 | Florida Governor Signs Law That Punishes Protesters For Protesting, Denies Them Bail | Even though Florida didn't see many of the anti-police violence protests that spread across the nation in the wake of the George Floyd killing, its legislature and its governor have apparently decided protesters have it too easy. Governor R... |
| 14.04.2021 | I Guess They're Not All On The Same Side: Cops Brutalize Soldier For [Checks Notes] Leading Them To A Well-Lit Area | But for video. |
| 14.04.2021 | I Guess They're Not All On The Same Side: Cops Brutalize Soldier For [Checks Notes] Leading Them To A Well-Lit Area | But for video. |
| 01.04.2021 | New York City Council Passes Police Reforms That Includes Ending Qualified Immunity For NYPD Officers | Qualified immunity is pure judicial cancer. This fact cannot be ignored. What began as a limited defense for decisions made in the heat of the moment has become the de facto response to civil rights lawsuits. The Supreme Court — which conju... |
| 01.04.2021 | New York City Council Passes Police Reforms That Includes Ending Qualified Immunity For NYPD Officers | Qualified immunity is pure judicial cancer. This fact cannot be ignored. What began as a limited defense for decisions made in the heat of the moment has become the de facto response to civil rights lawsuits. The Supreme Court -- which conj... |
| 30.03.2021 | State Appeals Court Says Flying A Drone Over Someone's Property Violates The Fourth Amendment | Lots of plain view jurisprudence relies on the fact that if it can be observed by random people — not just by law enforcement — then there’s no Fourth Amendment issue. If airplanes can pass over someone’s land, surely police helicopters can... |
| 30.03.2021 | State Appeals Court Says Flying A Drone Over Someone's Property Violates The Fourth Amendment | Lots of plain view jurisprudence relies on the fact that if it can be observed by random people -- not just by law enforcement -- then there's no Fourth Amendment issue. If airplanes can pass over someone's land, surely police helicopters c... |
| 24.03.2021 | Drone Company Wants To Sell Cops A Drone That Can Break Windows, Negotiate With Criminals | A drone manufacturer really really wants cops to start inviting drones to their raiding parties. This will bring "+ whatever" to all raiding party stats, apparently. BRINC Drones is here to help... and welcomes users to question t... |
| 24.03.2021 | Drone Company Wants To Sell Cops A Drone That Can Break Windows, Negotiate With Criminals | A drone manufacturer really really wants cops to start inviting drones to their raiding parties. This will bring “+ whatever” to all raiding party stats, apparently. BRINC Drones is here to help… and welcomes users to question the life choi... |
| 12.03.2021 | Police, Police Supporters: Ending Qualified Immunity Makes Being A Cop Too Hard, Somehow 'Defunds' The Police | Last Wednesday, the House passed the "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act," a bill that targets a number of aspects of law enforcement that need improvement, including two that have caused a considerable amount of collateral dama... |
| 12.03.2021 | Police, Police Supporters: Ending Qualified Immunity Makes Being A Cop Too Hard, Somehow 'Defunds' The Police | Last Wednesday, the House passed the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” a bill that targets a number of aspects of law enforcement that need improvement, including two that have caused a considerable amount of collateral damage. |
| 04.03.2021 | Federal Legislators Take Another Run At Ending Qualified Immunity | Last summer as protests raged around the nation in response to the killing of an unarmed black man by a white Minnesota police officer, federal legislators offered up a solution to one of the hot garbage problems of our time. A federal poli... |
| 26.08.2020 | When It Comes To Qualified Immunity, Where Your Rights Were Violated Matters More Than The Fact Your Rights Were Violated | Your rights are more protected in some areas of the country than in others. That’s the conclusion reached by Reuters and its examination of qualified immunity cases across the country. |
| 26.08.2020 | When It Comes To Qualified Immunity, Where Your Rights Were Violated Matters More Than The Fact Your Rights Were Violated | Your rights are more protected in some areas of the country than in others. That's the conclusion reached by Reuters and its examination of qualified immunity cases across the country. |
| 21.08.2020 | The Supreme Court's Failure To Protect The Right To Assemble Has Led Directly To Violence Against Protesters | It appears the Supreme Court is unwilling to address a another problem it created. |
| 06.08.2020 | Federal Judge Calls Out Qualified Immunity's Contribution To Racist Policing | If you only read one qualified immunity decision this year, make it this one. (At least until something better comes along. But this one will be hard to top.) [h/t MagentaRocks] |
| 06.08.2020 | Federal Judge Calls Out Qualified Immunity's Contribution To Racist Policing | If you only read one qualified immunity decision this year, make it this one. (At least until something better comes along. But this one will be hard to top.) [h/t MagentaRocks] |
| 09.07.2020 | Colorado Government Dumps Qualified Immunity For Cops | Since qualified immunity isn’t actually a law — but rather a Supreme Court construct — states are under no obligation to adopt this doctrine and apply it to lawsuits against law enforcement officers. But most states have, with Iowa’s top co... |
| 09.07.2020 | Colorado Government Dumps Qualified Immunity For Cops | Since qualified immunity isn't actually a law -- but rather a Supreme Court construct -- states are under no obligation to adopt this doctrine and apply it to lawsuits against law enforcement officers. But most states have, with Iowa's top ... |
| 26.06.2020 | Appeals Court Strips Immunity From Abusive Cops Who Assaulted A Compliant Black Man... And The City That Allowed This To Happen | It is exceedingly difficult to overcome qualified immunity in civil rights lawsuits against law enforcement officers. It often seems no matter how egregious the rights violation, qualified immunity still gets awarded because no previous law... |
| 26.06.2020 | Appeals Court Strips Immunity From Abusive Cops Who Assaulted A Compliant Black Man… And The City That Allowed This To Happen | It is exceedingly difficult to overcome qualified immunity in civil rights lawsuits against law enforcement officers. It often seems no matter how egregious the rights violation, qualified immunity still gets awarded because no previous law... |
| 19.06.2020 | Appeals Court Judge: Supreme Court Needs To Unfuck The Public By Rolling Back The Qualified Immunity Doctrine | It's not often you see a sitting judge condemn years of case law, especially when some of it is case law he likely helped convert into circuit precedent. But with everyone's eyes currently on brutal cops and the system that has encouraged l... |
| 19.06.2020 | Appeals Court Judge: Supreme Court Needs To Unfuck The Public By Rolling Back The Qualified Immunity Doctrine | It’s not often you see a sitting judge condemn years of case law, especially when some of it is case law he likely helped convert into circuit precedent. But with everyone’s eyes currently on brutal cops and the system that has encouraged l... |
| 17.06.2020 | Trump's 'Safe Policing' Executive Order Does Nothing To Address The Root Causes Of Police Misconduct | President Donald Trump has signed an executive order in response to protests around the nation triggered by the cold-blooded killing of a black man by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. |
| 17.06.2020 | Trump's 'Safe Policing' Executive Order Does Nothing To Address The Root Causes Of Police Misconduct | President Donald Trump has signed an executive order in response to protests around the nation triggered by the cold-blooded killing of a black man by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. |
| 11.06.2020 | Federal Legislators Pitching Massive Police Reform Bill That Would End Qualified Immunity | There’s some national-level police reform on the way, courtesy of Democratic lawmakers. Unfortunately, it’s going up against a party that holds a majority in the Senate and has pledged an oath of fealty to our very pro-cop president. This w... |
| 11.06.2020 | Federal Legislators Pitching Massive Police Reform Bill That Would End Qualified Immunity | There's some national-level police reform on the way, courtesy of Democratic lawmakers. Unfortunately, it's going up against a party that holds a majority in the Senate and has pledged an oath of fealty to our very pro-cop president. This w... |
| 09.06.2020 | Peaceful Protests Around The Nation Are Being Greeted By Police Violence. Remind Me Again How Peaceful Protests Are Better? | I have written at least two (admittedly) incendiary posts for this site responding to the response (and — one level further — commenters’ responses) to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin has bee... |
| 09.06.2020 | Peaceful Protests Around The Nation Are Being Greeted By Police Violence. Remind Me Again How Peaceful Protests Are Better? | I have written at least two (admittedly) incendiary posts for this site responding to the response (and -- one level further -- commenters' responses) to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin has b... |
| 01.06.2020 | Let. The Motherfucker. Burn. | Warning: this post will contain what we in the business like to call strong language, invective, and violent content. Govern yourself accordingly. |
| 01.06.2020 | Let. The Motherfucker. Burn. | Warning: this post will contain what we in the business like to call strong language, invective, and violent content. Govern yourself accordingly. |
| 13.05.2020 | Reuters Report Shows How The Supreme Court Has Turned Qualified Immunity Lawsuits Into A Rigged Game | Reuters has published an in-depth report on qualified immunity, the Supreme Court-created legal doctrine that allows law enforcement officers to avoid being held responsible for rights violations, so long as they’ve taken care to violate ri... |
| 13.05.2020 | Reuters Report Shows How The Supreme Court Has Turned Qualified Immunity Lawsuits Into A Rigged Game | Reuters has published an in-depth report on qualified immunity, the Supreme Court-created legal doctrine that allows law enforcement officers to avoid being held responsible for rights violations, so long as they've taken care to violate ri... |
| 20.02.2020 | Federal Court Permanently Blocks Michigan's Sex Offender Registry Law, Tells Legislators To Try Writing A Constitutional One | Michigan’s sex offender registry has been struck down as unconstitutional. It’s the result of multiple legal battles, tracing all the way back to 2010. The latest round of litigation has finally killed the law — something legislators allowe... |
| 20.02.2020 | Federal Court Permanently Blocks Michigan's Sex Offender Registry Law, Tells Legislators To Try Writing A Constitutional One | Michigan's sex offender registry has been struck down as unconstitutional. It's the result of multiple legal battles, tracing all the way back to 2010. The latest round of litigation has finally killed the law -- something legislators allow... |
| 19.02.2020 | College Student Gets Thrown On The Ground And A Gun Pointed At His Head For Committing The Crime Of 'Taking A Selfie While Black' | The latest crime to result in civil litigation is “taking a selfie while black.” Doing so in Illinois gets your face pushed in the snow, a knee in your back, and a gun held to your head. (via Simple Justice) |
| 19.02.2020 | College Student Gets Thrown On The Ground And A Gun Pointed At His Head For Committing The Crime Of 'Taking A Selfie While Black' | The latest crime to result in civil litigation is "taking a selfie while black." Doing so in Illinois gets your face pushed in the snow, a knee in your back, and a gun held to your head. (via Simple Justice) |
| 28.01.2020 | Court Tosses Evidence From Pretextual Stop When Dashcam Shows Cop Had Zero Reason To Perform A Stop | The #BacktheBlue types like to say stuff like “If you don’t want to get arrested, don’t break the law.” But breaking the law is never a prerequisite for a traffic stop, search, and/or arrest. The nation’s top court has already said cops don... |
| 28.01.2020 | Court Tosses Evidence From Pretextual Stop When Dashcam Shows Cop Had Zero Reason To Perform A Stop | The #BacktheBlue types like to say stuff like "If you don't want to get arrested, don't break the law." But breaking the law is never a prerequisite for a traffic stop, search, and/or arrest. The nation's top court has already sai... |
| 24.12.2019 | Multi-Agency Task Force Raid House To Arrest Someone Already In Jail, Shoot Woman In House Multiple Times Because Reasons | I usually don't jump in on things like these until a few more facts are in. As much as law enforcement complains about people "rushing to judgment" before every conceivable fact has been examined, here at Techdirt we prefer to be ... |
| 24.12.2019 | Multi-Agency Task Force Raid House To Arrest Someone Already In Jail, Shoot Woman In House Multiple Times Because Reasons | I usually don’t jump in on things like these until a few more facts are in. As much as law enforcement complains about people “rushing to judgment” before every conceivable fact has been examined, here at Techdirt we prefer to be right, rat... |
| 20.11.2019 | Photographer's Bullshit Arrest By A Dallas Transit Cop Nets Him A $345,000 Settlement | Dallas residents are now going to be $345,000 lighter thanks to the actions of one Dallas Area Rapid Transit cop. (via Reason) |
| 18.11.2019 | New York Residents Unprotected, Served Up To Criminals By NYPD Employees | Yeah, it’s real easy to sit back and second guess the hard work of law enforcement officers. Secure and safe in our warm homes, far away from the mean streets and thin blue line separating us from the criminal apocalypse, we have it easy. A... |
| 18.11.2019 | New York Residents Unprotected, Served Up To Criminals By NYPD Employees | Yeah, it's real easy to sit back and second guess the hard work of law enforcement officers. Secure and safe in our warm homes, far away from the mean streets and thin blue line separating us from the criminal apocalypse, we have it easy. A... |
| 10.10.2019 | Attorney Who Sued Grindr Responds Extremely Poorly To The Supreme Court's Rejection Of Her Section 230 Lawsuit | The Herrick v. Grindr case [um] ground to a halt on October 7th, as the Supreme Court refused to grant cert. The lawsuit -- and its attempt to undermine Section 230 immunity -- is dead, relegated to the pile of also-rans which have attempte... |
| 10.10.2019 | Attorney Who Sued Grindr Responds Extremely Poorly To The Supreme Court's Rejection Of Her Section 230 Lawsuit | The Herrick v. Grindr case [um] ground to a halt on October 7th, as the Supreme Court refused to grant cert. The lawsuit — and its attempt to undermine Section 230 immunity — is dead, relegated to the pile of also-rans which have attempted ... |
| 06.09.2019 | Cops Digitally Erase Suspect's Facial Tattoos To Make Him Look More Like The Robbery Suspect Caught On Camera | When the police have already decided who they like for some unsolved crime, almost nothing will stop them from getting their man. Investigations are supposed to involve investigating. But when a handful of tipsters said a black man robbed a... |
| 11.07.2019 | Following Trump Ruling Against Twitter Blockade, AOC Sued For Her Blocks On Twitter | So we just wrote about the 2nd Circuit Appeals court affirming a victory for the Knight 1st Amendment Center against Donald Trump, making it clear that he cannot block followers on social media. As we noted, the case is very fact specific, ... |
| 11.07.2019 | Following Trump Ruling Against Twitter Blockade, AOC Sued For Her Blocks On Twitter | So we just wrote about the 2nd Circuit Appeals court affirming a victory for the Knight 1st Amendment Center against Donald Trump, making it clear that he cannot block followers on social media. As we noted, the case is very fact specific, ... |
| 06.05.2019 | Ex-State Trooper Convicted Of Involuntary Manslaughter For Tasing A Teen Riding An ATV At 35 MPH | Former Michigan State Trooper Mark Bessner is going to jail. Bessner originally faced a second-degree murder charge for tasing a teen riding an ATV, but was ultimately convicted of a lesser charge. The details here are provided by the New Y... |
| 22.04.2019 | Twitter Permanently Suspends (Then Unsuspends) Lawyer For Telling NRA Supporters To 'Fuck Off' And 'Own The Death' | For all the talk of how Twitter supposedly is banning conservatives left and right (it’s not), the company is actually dealing with the impossibility of handling content moderation at scale. Adequately determining which content is “good” an... |
| 05.04.2019 | Appeals Court Says It's OK For Cops To Steal Stuff From Citizens | Qualified immunity isn’t a codified defense. Congress never passed a law granting public employees this exception to Constitutional protections. This exception — one that allows public servants to avoid being directly sued by the public who... |
| 19.03.2019 | Officer's Body Cam Fails To Capture Footage Of Woman Shooting Herself In The Head While Her Hands Were Cuffed Behind Her | There’s more than one contortionist performance going on here. (h/t Greg Doucette) |
| 25.01.2019 | Supreme Court Has The Chance To Extend Fourth Amendment Protections To Apartment Residents | If all goes well, we may end up with a little more Fourth Amendment here in the USA. The Supreme Court is currently considering reviewing a case that will more clearly define what Fourth Amendment implications cops’ four-legged friends brin... |
| 28.11.2018 | Ignorance Of The Law Is No Excuse, Court Tells Cop | We’ve grown accustomed to law enforcement being given a pass for not knowing the laws they’re enforcing. A 2014 Supreme Court decision made being ignorant precedential, providing cops with an out citizens can’t use. Ignorance of the law can... |
| 19.11.2018 | Police Misconduct, Data Breaches, And The Ongoing Lack Of Accountability That Allows These To Continue | Data breaches occur daily, affecting thousands of people. And everyone shrugs and moves on with their lives, especially those running the affected companies. Why? Because nothing ever happens to companies which have carelessly exposed data,... |
| 25.10.2018 | Victims' Rights Laws Being Abused To Hide The Identities Of Cops Involved In Use Of Force Incidents | A law filled with good intentions and vague wording is, more often than not, a law named after the victim of a crime. So-called “Marsy’s Laws” are being passed in states that grant crime victims extra rights, often at the expense of the acc... |
| 17.09.2018 | Qualified Immunity Contradicts Congressional Intent. It's Time To Kill It Off. | The doctrine of qualified immunity was conjured up by the US Supreme Court in 1982 and victims of rights violations have been paying the price for more than three decades. The doctrine was created by the Court, not by Congress. This is an i... |
| 05.09.2018 | Appeals Court Judge: Qualified Immunity Is A Rigged Game The Government Almost Always Wins | We’ve long cast a skeptical eye on the judicial theory of qualified immunity. Conjured out of thin air by the Supreme Court, qualified immunity cannot be found among the thousands of laws and statutes our legislature has created over the pa... |
| 14.08.2018 | Iowa Supreme Court Thinks Things Are Too Tough For Bad Cops, Adopts Qualified Immunity Defense | The Iowa Supreme Court has decided to lower standards for law enforcement officers in its state. The ruling [PDF] issued earlier this summer gives state officers the opportunity to dismiss lawsuits against them by asserting qualified immuni... |
| 30.07.2018 | DOJ Tells Sheriff To Give It Back The $70,000 In Forfeiture Funds He Spent To Buy Himself A New Sports Car | You have to screw up pretty badly to step on the DOJ’s toes hard enough for it to notice when it comes to asset forfeiture. After the briefest of reforms under Eric Holder, new AG Jeff Sessions reactivated the federal forfeiture escape hatc... |
| 07.06.2018 | NY State Legislators Unanimously Pass A Cyberbullying Bill That Can't Be Bothered To Define Cyberbullying [Update] | Update: Eugene Volokh points out (via email) that there is a definition of cyberbullying on the books in New York state. The bill does not reference it, however. This bill appends Section 12a to Section 12, which is part of the state’s cons... |
| 07.05.2018 | Louisiana Law Enforcement Has Been Abusing An Unconstitutional Law To Arrest People For Trying To File Complaints | Police officers aren’t legal experts. No court expects them to know the intricacies of the laws they’re paid to enforce. Close enough is good enough when it comes to pretextual stops, street-level friskings, and other assorted Constitutiona... |
| 30.04.2018 | Device Detects Drug Use Through Fingerprints, Raising A Host Of Constitutional Questions | If this tech becomes a routine part of law enforcement loadouts, judicial Fourth and Fifth Amendment findings are going to be upended. Or, at least, they should be. I guess citizens will just have to see how this all shakes out. |
