In the wake of George Floyd ’s death, all eyes turn to SCOTUS

Jay SchweikertThis past Monday, George Floyd was killed by a police officer, Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee against Mr. Floyd ’s neck for over eight minutes, while Mr. Floyd and onlookers alike begged for the officer to stop and let Mr. Floyd breathe. George Floyd’s death was no aberrant act of random violence. Rather, as my colleagueClark Neily wrote earlier this week, Mr. Floyd was “the latest victim of our near‐​zero‐​accountability policy for law enforcement.” As such, I expect his death has been weighed with a special kind of gravity on One First Street, where the Justices of the Supreme Court deliberated this week on whether to reconsiderqualified immunity—an atextual, ahistorical judicial doctrine that shields public officials from liability, even when they break the law.Over the last several days, I have observed with grim satisfaction that reporters and commentators of all stripes have appropriately recognized the direct connection between qualified immunity and the senseless murder of George Floyd. For example:TheNew York Times pulls no punches, running an editorial on the subject of “How the Supreme Court Lets Cops Get Away With Murder.” They correctly explain that, while there are a variety of reasons police officers are rarely held to account for their misconduct, “it is the Supreme Court that has enabled a culture of violence and abuse by eviscerating a vital civil rights law to provide po...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs