USA TODAY by Richard Wolf 5/29/2020
Legal immunity for police misconduct, under attack from left and right, may get Supreme Court review
The brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police has re-energized a national debate over misconduct by law enforcement officials that the Supreme Court may be poised to enter.
The justices could announce as early as Monday that they will consider if law enforcement and other officials continue to deserve "qualified immunity" that protects them from being sued for official actions.
The high court itself established that protection in a series of decisions dating back several decades, letting police off the hook unless their behavior violated "clearly established" laws or constitutional rights. Lower courts have used that standard to uphold almost any actions not specifically forbidden.
But in recent years, justices, lower court judges and scholars on both the left and right have questioned that legal doctrine for creating a nearly impossible standard for victims to meet and a nearly blanket immunity for those accused of misconduct.
More:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/29/police-misconduct-supreme-court-reconsider-qualified-immunity/5275816002/
