CBS News by Melissa Quinn 6/5/2020
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week after a police officer pressed his knee to Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, leaving him struggling to breathe, sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and calls for policing reforms.
While Congress has begun crafting legislation aimed at addressing inequities in the criminal justice system, the Supreme Court could as soon as Monday announce whether it, too, will jump into the national conversation on policing as it weighs appeals involving the legal doctrine that shields law enforcement from lawsuits for constitutional violations.
At their weekly conference Thursday, the justices were scheduled to discuss at least half a dozen cases pending before the court that involve qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that protects government officials from liability for conduct on the job unless they violate "clearly established" constitutional rights.
The doctrine was created by the high court decades ago, but legal experts calling on the Supreme Court to rethink qualified immunity believe the standard victims must meet to hold law enforcement accountable has become exceedingly difficult to reach.
"Qualified immunity has become a get-out-of-jail-free card," Emma Andersson, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, told CBS News.
More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-qualified-immunity-police-announcement-could-come-soon/
