What would happen if qualified immunity was abolished?
Defenders of the doctrine argue that if qualified immunity is abolished, law enforcement officers could be flooded by costly lawsuits that would discourage people from joining the profession altogether.
Have any states ended qualified immunity?
State law. Colorado, Connecticut, New Mexico, and New York City have either ended qualified immunity altogether or limited its application in court cases.
Will the Supreme Court rule on qualified immunity cases?
The U.S. Supreme Court could agree to hear qualified immunity cases amid nationwide protests over police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd. The U.S. Supreme Court could agree to hear qualified immunity cases amid nationwide protests over police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd.
Will the legal battle over qualified immunity reach an inflection point?
The legal battle over qualified immunity may now have reached an inflection point in the aftermath of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. There are currently eight qualified immunity cases now pending before the Supreme Court.
Does the Supreme Court show an unflinching willingness to reverse lower courts?
In one dissent, she said the court “displays an unflinching willingness” to reverse lower courts when they refuse to grant qualified immunity to police officers. In contrast, she said, the court “rarely intervenes” when lower courts wrongly grant qualified immunity to police officers.
Is qualified immunity an absolute shield for law enforcement officers?
This “one-sided approach” transforms qualified immunity into “an absolute shield for law enforcement officers,” she wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s most conservative member, has also called for revisiting the doctrine of qualified immunity. He has written that the doctrine was simply invented by judges without any historical basis.