USA TODAY International Edition
Other Views: Why qualified immunity needs reforming
“Coming from a law enforcement family, I never had issues with police in my life – not even a traffic ticket. As the first Hispanic woman elected to the City Council of Castle Hills, Texas, and having lived here for 20 years, my campaign issue was fair treatment for everyone, not just the well- connected. I was so happy when I won in 2019. Little did I know that soon after, crooked politicians and their friends would use the power of the government to violate my constitutional rights by removing me from office, and even throwing me in jail, because city officials didn’t like being criticized for doing bad work. That’s not the end of my story, however. Because of the obscure and immoral judge- created doctrine of qualified immunity, my efforts to enforce my First and 14th Amendment rights have been thwarted by excessive delays. ... Despite the extreme stress, I believe it is my duty to stand up to try to ensure that others are not silenced the way I was.”
Joanna Schwartz, USA TODAY:
“Qualified immunity protects police officers and other government officials from being sued for money damages – even if they have violated the Constitution – if they have not violated ‘ clearly established’ law. The Supreme Court has made clear that, in most cases, the law is not clearly established unless a court previously held nearly identical facts to be unconstitutional. ... Why has the Supreme Court adopted such a difficult standard? Because, according to the court, only a prior case with nearly identical facts will put an officer on notice that he has violated the Constitution. ... Officers are educated about watershed decisions ... but are not regularly or reliably educated about court decisions interpreting those watershed decisions. ... If we keep qualified immunity, the definition of ‘ clearly established law’ should be changed to reflect how officers are actually educated about the scope of their authority.”