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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Federal Judge Delivers Another Urgent, Scathing Warning About the Supreme Court
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/05/supreme-court-judge-carlton-reeves-warning-abortion-police-civil-rights.htmlNo paywall link
https://archive.li/hgZiv
It takes a lot of courage for a lower court judge to criticize the Supreme Court, but Judge Carlton Reeves has long felt a responsibility to speak candidly to the public about threats to their civil rights. In an opinion on Monday, he calls for the abolition of qualified immunitya noxious legal doctrine that insulates violent and corrupt government officials, especially law enforcement, from accountability. He embedded this call to action in a broader critique of the Supreme Courts selective application of precedentwith a focus on the cavalier reversal of Roe v. Wadeas well as its pernicious distrust of democracy. Reeves opinion warns all who wish to listen that a broad array of our constitutional liberties are in serious and imminent jeopardy.
A Barack Obama appointee, Reeves sits on a U.S. District Court in Mississippi. His latest opinion was sparked by facts that he sees all too often and has written about before: the egregious violation of a criminal suspects constitutional rights as an innocent person wrongly charged with a crime. It began when detective Jacquelyn Thomas of Jackson, Mississippi, accused Desmond Green of murder. The detectives only evidence was a statement made by Greens acquaintance, Samuel Jenningsafter Jennings was arrested for burglary and grand larceny, and while he was under the influence of meth. Thomas allegedly encouraged Jennings to select Greens picture out of a photo lineup after he identified someone else as the killer. Allegedly, she also misled the grand jury to secure an indictment, concealing Jennings drug abuse as well as the many inconsistencies and inaccuracies in his statement.
Jennings later recanted, admitting that, in his meth-addled state, hed provided a bogus tip. A judge finally dismissed the charges. By that point, Green had spent 22 months in jail, serving pretrial detention. The facility was violent. The food was moldy. He slept on the floor. His cell was infested with snakes and vermin.
Green then sued Thomas, accusing her of malicious prosecution in violation of the Constitution. Thomas promptly asserted qualified immunity to defeat the lawsuit. This doctrine protects government officials from liability unless they run afoul of clearly established law. In other words, there must be an earlier case on the books with similar, particularized facts that explicitly bars the officials actions. If there is no near-identical precedent that unambiguously prohibits those acts, qualified immunity kicks in, the lawsuit is tossed out, and the case never even reaches a jury.
*snip*
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A Federal Judge Delivers Another Urgent, Scathing Warning About the Supreme Court (Original Post)
Nevilledog
May 23
OP
dalton99a
(82,120 posts)1. Kick
sakabatou
(42,330 posts)2. K&R
Hermit-The-Prog
(34,086 posts)3. This Subversive Court is a serious threat to the nation.
littlemissmartypants
(23,210 posts)4. TY. ❤️