Biden Admin Embraces Qualified Immunity

Marc Nozell via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The Biden administration has appeared to embrace the one defense that could propel criminal justice reform if eliminated.

According to The Washington Free Beacon:

Democrats behind a major criminal justice reform bill named for George Floyd want to put limits on qualified immunity, a defense available to law enforcement that is very difficult for plaintiffs to surmount. Though President Joe Biden supports the bill, administration lawyers are arguing for qualified immunity in civil rights cases from Massachusetts to Texas to the Supreme Court.

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The pattern suggests the Biden administration is as much a barrier to reform-minded activists as police unions and Republican lawmakers. The administration has not implemented policy changes that could significantly curtail police immunity or hinted that such changes are in the offing. And while the decision whether to assert qualified immunity rests with the officer-defendant, government lawyers long accustomed to qualified immunity and its benefits will find nothing challenging about Biden’s approach.

Overcoming qualified immunity requires a plaintiff to show an officer’s misconduct violated “clearly established law.” It’s a hard test to pass. As the rule operates today, plaintiffs must point to an earlier decision with near-identical facts that makes clear the misconduct alleged in their case is indeed unlawful.

The most striking example of the government’s continued reliance on qualified immunity came in a February lawsuit arising from the 2020 Floyd riots. The case involves the Washington, D.C., chapter of Black Lives Matter, which is suing police officers and government officials who cleared Lafayette Square of demonstrators ahead of former president Donald Trump’s visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Biden’s calls for criminal justice reform see to be weak if this new reliance on qualified immunity means anything.

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gene smith
gene smith
2 years ago

When will WE THE PEOPLE and the Media plus all of the “Leaders” of both Party’s finally admit to the quite obvious FACTS of THE MATTER….Biden is certainly and for sure not quite up to his Position….BUT….He is very deliberate in his drive to destroy this Country. He is continuously given a Pass on many of his “blunders” with no consideration given to the fact that his are not just” Oh Shucks” errors but deliberate and horrifying absolute destruction techniques…and they are being allowed with little to NONE at all being questioned.

Rick
Rick
2 years ago

If Kommissar biden , Nasty peeloser, or chuck the schmuck said it, it is DEFINITELY a Lie

Robert W
Robert W
2 years ago

You can’t believe a “damn thing” the Demorats spout out, especially from Demented Joe!!!

Rick
Rick
2 years ago

If Biden is going to do Criminal justice reform ? you had better hold on to your dreds, Life for Jaywalking, death penalty for Rap music, and complete elimination for anything else, AND IF YOU THINK I AM KIDDING LOOK AT HIS RECORD AS A SENATOR ! And look at his recent speech, “You cannot obtain Identification, lawyers, or accountants”

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