SCOTUS clears Border Patrol agent in shooting

WASHINGTON – A deeply divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the family of a Mexican teen shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent cannot seek damages because of the border that was between them.

The justices ruled 5-4 that Sergio Adrian Hernández Guereca, 15, lacked constitutional protection against the use of excessive force because he was in Mexico. Had he been in Texas with Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa, his family would have had a claim.

Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion and was joined by the court’s four other conservatives. The four liberal justices dissented.

“A cross-border shooting claim has foreign relations and national security implications,” Alito said. “In addition, Congress has been notably hesitant to create claims based on allegedly tortious conduct abroad.”

The justices ruled 5-4 that Sergio Adrian Hernández Guereca, 15, lacked constitutional protection against the use of excessive force because he was in Mexico.

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the dissent for her liberal colleagues. She said the shooting occurred on the U.S. side of the border, so the majority’s concern about applying the law abroad should not apply.

“Neither U.S. foreign policy nor national security is in fact endangered by the litigation,” Ginsburg said. “Moreover, concerns attending the application of our law to conduct occurring abroad are not involved, for plaintiffs seek the application of U.S. law to conduct occurring inside our borders.”

Hundreds of incidents involving deadly force occur along the U.S.-Mexican border every year. President Donald Trump has been trying to build a wall along the border.

In 1971, the Supreme Court gave private citizens an implied right to sue federal officials for civil rights violations, even though Congress had passed no such law. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, wrote Tuesday that the precedent should be overruled.

During oral argument in November, Mesa’s attorney, Randolph Ortega, said the border “is real. It’s a real line. And it can’t be extended” to provide constitutional protection on the Mexican side.