What is qualified immunity?
Qualified immunity is a judicially created doctrine that shields government officials from being held personally liable for constitutional violations—like the right to be free from excessive police force—for money damages under federal law so long as the officials did not violate “clearly established†law. Both 42 U.S.C. § 1983—a statute originally passed to assist the government in combating Ku Klux Klan violence in the South after the Civil War—and the Supreme Court’s decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1971) allow individuals to sue government officials for money damages when they violate their constitutional rights. Section 1983 applies to state officials, while Bivens applies to federal officials. Because damages are often the only available remedy after a constitutional violation has occurred, suits for damages can be a crucial means of vindicating constitutional rights. When government officials are sued, qualified immunity functions as an affirmative defense they can raise, barring damages even if they committed unlawful acts. (Qualified immunity is not, however, a defense to claims for injunctive relief.)
Interestingly, note that it was created by the judicial branch, not legislative branch. Also, notice that it applies essentially to all government officials.
What percent of NYC officers will resign by the end of the year? How much will crime spike in NYC because officers will not want to get involved? (and, this is not New York State, only NYC) https://t.co/b57rUSx9zd
— William Teach2 ??????? #refuseresist (@WTeach2) March 26, 2021
That story in the tweet is probably one of the silliest, since it conflates NYC with New York State multiple times in the article, not just the headline. Layers and layers of fact checkers, eh? So, we’ll go to the CBS one noted
The New York City Council voted Thursday to end qualified immunity for police officers.
The decades-old protection has prevented officers from being sued or liable for misconduct.
New York is now the first city in the country to end qualified. The measure was passed as part of a package of police reform bills.
Critics argued scrapping the protection will make officers less aggressive in fighting crime, if they have to worry about lawsuits.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, however, said it “has been used to deny justice to victims of police abuse for decades.â€
“Rooted in our nation’s history of systemic racism, qualified immunity denied Freedom Riders justice and has been used to deny justice to victims of police abuse for decades,†he tweeted after the vote. “It should never have been allowed, but I’m proud that we took action today to end it here in NYC.â€
But of course they had to trot out the “systemic racism” talking point. How many officers will now retire from the NYPD by the end of the year? How many will leave the NYPD for other jobs? How hard will it be to replace those officers? How high will crime spike in a city where the crime is already spiking? Will it make New Yorkers pine for the “good years” of Mayor Dinkins? How soon will the rich and upper middle class white liberals abandon NYC to avoid the crime? And see businesses, which generate enormous tax revenue for the NYC, leave the city?
Certainly, there needs to be some reform to qualified immunity, because there are times when officers go to far and they know it. But, more often, the complaints are just people pissed off that they were arrested. Look at the case of Malaika Jones. We have her accusing two officers of all sorts of things, including racism and that they were chatting about where to tase her because she was pregnant. But, see, that’s her side of the story. She refused to sign the ticket, something very simple. She had been speeding. Sign it and be done. She refused to follow the lawful orders of the officers. And got tazed. And detained. And the courts showed a different story of what happened, rather than her fable. And the officers were shielded.
(The Skanner) Brooks’ arrest and the resulting uproar triggered two minor reforms: Individuals who refuse to sign citations are no longer subject to arrest; and “police department policy now restricts the use of Tasers on pregnant women to exceptional circumstances,†said Holmes.
See, while lots of outlets like to use this as an example, the law was clear: the officers were following the law, as passed by the city. In NYC, officers (those that haven’t left) will simply refuse to get involved, since they can now be sued directly and such, especially since we know that people just love to make up stories when they’ve broken the law, right? Notice, too, that the rest of the NYC government is still covered by qualified immunity. What, you thought that they would remove it for themselves for equity’s sake? Pfft.
That’s the whole point for the White haters in NYC. If they really cared about the “systemic racism” of that law they would rescind it for all NYC employees. If it’s unjust it’s unjust for everybody. But what they are doing is covering their own fascist asses while throwing the cops to the BLM crowd of anti White racists. Personally I like it because I want to watch demofascist cities crumble.
Absotively, posilutely right! I note that the legislation does not end qualified immunity for firemen — I do not use the politically correct term ‘fire fighters,’ just because there are female firemen — even though the actions they might have to take, such as forcing people to move out of the way, such as tearing down private property to prevent a fire from spreading, could violate people’s rights.
The resolute Mx Dana boasts often of their displeasure with gender neutral terms! In essence, “That’s the way it was and that’s the way it should always be”. Some insecure men prefer using terms such as governoress and senatrix to diminish successful women. Other insecure men refer to successful women such as Vice President Harris as whores even if the the previous president was the most egregious whore ever to occupy the White House. Ironically, nuCons revel in the faux-“masculinity” of the previous president even though the boufant hairdos, manicures, bronzer, draft dodging, chauffeurs and servants argue the opposite. Perhaps sexual assaults and cruelty is what defines manliness for a nuCon.
Traditions, customs, mores, practices, conventions and even words in America are immutable! Having said that, waitron for waiter/waitress and pibling for aunt/uncle may not catch on.
Mx for Mr, Mrs, Ms already is being used.
But fire fighter, police officer, chairperson, foreperson, server, actor or flight attendant don’t seem too difficult to live with.
The apparently gender-neutral Mr Dowd wrote:
It would be Governess, not governoress. But yes, if you are attributing to me, “That’s the way it was and that’s the way it should always be,” while I do not recall ever writing such, I happily and heartily endorse the sentiment.
We have long centuries, millennia, of accumulated wisdom; that’s why it is called the ‘wisdom of the ages.’ Only today’s left have become so f(ornicating) stupid to have cast that all aside. Conservatives know how to act, while liberals can’t even tell what bathrooms to use.
Only by the stupid.
I’ve seen a couple of articles pushing “Mx”, but even such liberal publications as The New York Times and The Washington Post do not use it. Sadly, they do use “Ms,” which is an abomination.
From my website’s published Stylebook:
The control of language is the first step in the control of thought, and I do not go along with the left’s attempts to control our language.
How did police officers fight crime before 1967?
This case made it to the Supreme Court (Pierson v Ray, 1967) where they introduced the concept of “qualified immunity” for officers from being sued for civil rights violations.
Unsurprisingly, Teach and his minions see the end of civilization if police officers are not allowed to kill Black men as the police (except Capitol police) are all that stands between decent white folk and the violent black hoard.
Time to put a wall around NYC and turn it into a maximum security prison. The first prisoners should be the leftist loonies that turned our great cities into shitholes.
Fewer cops would help.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/murder-rate-jumps-back-1990s-levels-fbi-data
Bwaha! Lolgf
How most people read Teach’s OP:
How others who only have hate read the post:
All the left has is hate.
Here’s what Teach “gabbed”:
and typed:
and then he lies about the Brooks case where a 7 month pregnant woman dropping her 11 yr old at school was stopped for doing 32 in a 20. She accepted the ticket but refused to sign it. For this serious threat to public safety she was tased 3 times, dragged out of her car and handcuffed in front of her child’s school. The offending officers got off by “qualified immunity”. Teach presented this cautionary tale to illustrate how Blacks use false accusations to get stuff, typing… “more often, the complaints are just people pissed off that they were arrested”. No, people are pissed off for being dragged from their car for a simple speeding ticket, for getting shot in the back for running, for getting knelt on, choked and body slammed.
I speed all the time and have been stopped several times. I don’t recall ever receiving a speeding ticket, though. The last time stopped was a few years ago speeding on a state highway returning from deer hunting. It was a MO State patrolman (very professional and nice, at least when they stop me). I’d left my drivers license in my jacket in the back of my station wagon and had to retrieve it for the officer. When I popped the hatch for my jacket there were rifles and liquor. “Any luck?”, he asked. “Not me, but by son got a nice buck”. “OK, wait.” He went back to the cruiser, checked out the license and came back telling me to slow down.
No doubt “qualified immunity” needs reform. Especially now with all the video cameras around.
Teach thinksctgat a cops day is like a tv program
Typically a policeman spends about 4% of his shift hours fighting violent crime
Teach has watched too many cop shows on tv
Most police will retire having never fired their weapon on duty
Police spend about3% of their time fighting violent crime
Hairy, is it 4% or 3% and where on earth do you get these numbers from? And you’re using the old leftist shuffle by adding the word “violent” before crime. They fight crime. Period. fighting crime like being a fireman has inherent risk. It’s part of the job. BTW would you consider confronting a shoplifter fighting violent crime? How about a car chase? Pinching a mugger? You’re saying they spend fewer than 2 hours a week actually fighting crime the rest is spent doing what? Beating up blacks?
Last year 264 cops were killed in the line of duty up from 135 in 2019. As usual the media in a need to continue fake news includes cops killed by Wuflu. I don’t consider that “killed” in the line of duty but I guess to get maximum benefits off the unsuspecting taxpayer that new angle had top be added. Just dying from Wuflu doesn’t get ya all the goodies I guess if you’re a cop it’s in the line of duty. I wonder if a heart attack while employed as a cop also counts?
Everything the left gets involved with they corrupt even “in the line of duty” deaths. It’s amazing.
Teach flat out lies to his willing victims:
Look at the case of Malaika Jones (her name is Brooks; Jones probably sounds “blacker”, in case Malaika was too faint a dog whistle… her name is in both articles Teach cited). We have her accusing two officers of all sorts of things, including racism and that they were chatting about where to tase her because she was pregnant. But, see, that’s her side of the story. She refused to sign the ticket, something very simple. She had been speeding. Sign it and be done. She refused to follow the lawful orders of the officers. And got tazed. And detained. And the courts showed a different story of what happened, rather than her fable. And the officers were shielded.
There is NO evidence that Mx Brooks’ story was a “fable”, even if she was Black. By all accounts, it happened just as she described. (see 9th Circuit) A pregnant woman was driving her son to school and was pulled over for speeding. The officers could have given her a warning but chose to issue a ticket, which is at their discretion. When she didn’t sign the ticket, they used a pain compliance technique and 3 tasers to arrest her. No, the courts did not show a different story of what happened. The 9th Circuit allowed the officers to qualified immunity but permitted the state to pursue criminal charges of assault and battery if they wished.
from the 9th Circuit:
It’s a legal tautology!! Since there was no clearly established precedent where an officer lost qualified immunity for tasing a pregnant woman for speeding, the court couldn’t allow the officers in this case to to lose their qualified immunity. So the court decided the officers clearly used excessive force after stopping Brooks but there was no precedent for them losing qualified immunity in federal court. The 9th Circuit Left open whether the state would pursue assault and battery charges against the officers or that Brooks could sue in state court.
The City of Seattle settled with Brooks out of court.
The resisiting arrest charges against Brooks were dropped in the original incident.
9th circuit court, Seattle, settlement, black.
Say no more The Elwood.
I watched the leaders of Congress kneel in the halls of Congress for about 9 minutes, for the death of a black man named George Floyd.
I have never seen them kneel for a fallen *Police Officer.
I have never seen them kneel for a fallen *Soldier.
I NEVER SAW THEM KNEEL FOR THE *SOLDIERS THAT HILLARY & OBAMA LEFT TO DIE IN Benghazi!!
I have never seen them kneel for the thousands of (black and white) *babies aborted EVERY DAY.
I have never seen them kneel for a murdered *white man or woman.
I have not seen them kneel for the thousands of *black-on-black murder victims.
I have not seen them kneel for the thousands of *elderly people that died in nursing homes due to the Wuflu and democrat negligence.(Especially N.Y.)
I have to ask: *WHY do put the life of George Floyd as more valuable than the lives of everyone else?
In fact, they have put so much value on the life of George Floyd, they have allowed rioting, ?looting, ? arson, ????murder, and ?mayhem in communities Nationwide…
ASK YOURSELF – WHY NOW?”
The family (brothers and sister) of George Floyd opened a Go Fund Me account to “help the family”? It has already raised $14,455,100.00 and still counting from donations as of June 22, 2020. (That’s as recent as I could find) Yes, almost $14 1/2 MILLION. This is for a guy who was arrested NINE times; was a convicted drug dealer (and at a drug deal the day he died); held a gun to the stomach of a pregnant lady while his five buddies robbed her home; did prison time three different times totaling about eight years, and obviously didn’t learn from our penal system.
And America is memorializing him by painting murals of the guy on the sides of buildings like he’s a hero? Unbelievable!!
You got to be kidding me.
Crime does pay! ….and to pour salt in the wound, Rep. Pelosi presented his brother a folded American flag flown over the Capitol in his honor in a beautiful tri-cornered presentation case.
I spit on Malaika Jones, the 9th commie court and you for believing this horse shit. Moron.
The white supremacist The Kye whines about people assaulted and families of people killed by police getting money for their losses. Didn’t you get nearly a million for your “losses” – with no one assaulted and killed!
Officer Chauvin, who killed Floyd, has had 18 complaints filled against him, has been involved in 3 police shooting, is being investigated for civil rights violations against a 14 yr ole and is currently under investigation for tax fraud.
The Floyd family received 27 Million from Minneapolis and now you tell me they’ve raised millions more in a a Go Fund Me account. So? Why does that irk you so much? Didn’t you get nearly a million?
The previous occupant of the White House has raised a half BILLION!
The pregnant woman tased and dragged from her car was Malaika Brooks, not Jones. The 9th Circuit gave the officers “immunity” for their violent actions. May an officer kneel on your fat neck for 9 minutes. Fuk you, loser. Moron.
Actually, I have received a bit over 2 million. What you need to get through your hateful skull is: THEY ARE SBA LOANS, NOT GIFTS. Yes, some of that money may be subject to forgiveness in the future but I was in no way repaid for what the Demofascist government stole from me, or my employees.
Now explain to me how the life of a illiterate repeat criminal is worth 27 million taxpayer dollars? For what, his human potential to spawn future welfare babies? For cutting his criminal career short? For perhaps stopping him from hurting or even killing future victims? How is this piece of human shit worth 27 million dollars?
I don’t care how ignorant shits like you piss away leftists money like you did with Malaika Jones. IT’s your problem. You just hate the idea that a White Christian who is a societal contributor got fuked but got money back for it. I suppose you believe when the state fuked us and our employees it was a good thing cause I’m White, my wife is Asian and so are almost all our workers. I take it you would enjoy having me killed by a government goon kneeling on my big fat neck as a form of justice.
BTW, you cannot be this stupid as to still call me a White Supremacist after all this time. It must be you just feel so guilty for being one yourself you need project that onto a man with an Asian wife and two black foster kids. Or you are like you fake leader Xiden and are fukin senile. You need cheat sheets like your senile messiah.
https://patriotretort.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Biden-Easter-cheat-sheet.jpg
The Kye is an admitted white supremacist but continues to deny it. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
The Kye is also a socialist who took 2 million from taxpayers.
A socialist white supremacist. The worst kind.
Do you judge a human on only their accomplishments? Don’t you run a “beauty” parlor with mostly Korean women working there, and day trade? Neither sounds very essential to us. Grocery store stock boys are essential. Fire fighters too. Health care workers, of course. By your criteria every kindergarten teacher is more valuable than a whole family of trumps.
If only you and those like you had listened to scientists, the Trump Plague might be behind us. Remember that science is true whether you believe it or not.
According to right wingers a healthy man can’t be killed by a police officer kneeling on their neck for several minutes. Do you call all police officers “government goons”?
The payout to the Floyd family probably was from liability insurance. These sorts of civil settlements are to encourage better behavior on the part of government goons like Chauvin.
Jeff,
I am afraid you are the moron. Why do you give black people a pass on their illegal actions? In addition you clearly don’t think that black are intelligent nor do you think they are equal to yourself, always holding yourself above a black individual and feeling that you have to go around calling people childish names to help out blacks who are breaking the law.
Kye does things for less fortunate people, but I can not find any evidence at all that you help out anyone. You clearly do not hold blacks responsible for there actions at the same level as you do whites. I am afraid that of all the people here you are the white supremacist. Admit your obvious failings and contribute to others welfare rather than complaining.
davis,
You’re humiliated me once again with your spot on analysis. I can only hope one day to be as selfless as you and The Kye.