Article from For Liberty by Norm Leahy.
House Democrats and Senate Republicans are putting together competing packages of legislation on law enforcement reform. A key sticking point has emerged: what to do about qualified immunity.
House Democrats want to end qualified immunity – which shields government officials, including law enforcement– from lawsuits. Senate Republicans don’t support the idea.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who is leading the Senate Republicans legislative efforts, said he doesn’t see items like qualified immunity reform “get to the finish line.”
Texas Sen. John Cornyn added:
“It’s a tough job under any set of circumstances and to have lawsuits filed which sort of flyspeck what you did or didn’t do at a time when you didn’t know whether you know, somebody is trying to kill you or not. … I think you need that sort of balancing of interests that qualified immunity provides,” Cornyn said.
Qualified immunity is the creation of judicial activism. Initially intended to prevent frivolous lawsuits, it’s become a broad legal shield that prevents bad cops from being held accountable for their actions.
The Supreme Court may yet tackle the issue, as several cases relating to qualified immunity are awaiting action. According to The Hill, “Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor have both voiced skepticism about [qualified immunity].
Image Credit: By St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
wpDiscuz
I’m all for removing Qualified Immunity laws, as long as they are also removed from the politicians who daily do damage to citizens.
This USA as we now see it is DOA/ It should now be called The United States “Banana Republic” of America. It a corpse looking for a place to fall down. Can you say over?
Trying to remove qualified immunity at this point is just another attempt by the Democrats to try to sue President Trump!
Agree with H.D. Lets put the same removal of Qualified Immunity laws on Congress (House and Senate) Someone should bring this up during committee meetings on the legislation to reform law enforcement
Write your House and/or Senate Representative and tell them to bring it up in the hearings
Removing qualified immunity from law enforcement officers would be a serious mistake. It’s one thing when two individuals confront each other over legal issues but police officers don’t represent themselves they represent others. Without immunity it would make police far less effective and provide less protection for others.