Way out of my league here, but this sure seems significant to me.
March 26, 2021, 11:51 AM MDT / Updated March 26, 2021, 12:30 PM MDT
SCOTUS just changed the game on how crooked cops can be prosecuted The conservative Supreme Courte arguably broadened the ability to sue police officers for misconduct like use of excessive force.
Essentially, a woman was shot in the back fleeing cops. They had come into the parking lot looking for a suspect, not her. She was suffering withdrawal from meth, and thought they were carjackers, so she drove away. They shot at her, and hit her twice in the back. She made her way to a hospital, and was arrested there. She filed a lawsuit against the officers, contending they used excessive force and that the shooting amounted to an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment.
In this ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by his conservative colleague Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal judges (Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan) arguably broadened the ability to sue police officers for misconduct like use of excessive force.
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And so we have our conservative chief justice, his conservative colleague and three liberal justices concluding that the “application of physical force to the body of a person with intent to restrain is a seizure, even if the force does not succeed in subduing the person.”
We have also been told that conservatives will vote in favor of police officers and liberals will vote in favor of defendants and/or those accusing police officers of using excessive force. This case proves that assumption paints with far too broad a brush. This case boiled down to a question of constitutional interpretation and specifically what is included under the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Another mention of the case by Pete Williams at MSNBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-makes-it-easier-sue-big-companies-police-n1262055