Top Tweets for #FederalImmunity
IJ will continue its work nationwide to restore real accountability when government officials violate constitutional rights—including in cases challenging #QualifiedImmunity, task-force #immunity, #FederalImmunity, and all other doctrines that place obstacles between the rights of Americans and remedies in American courtrooms.
In Taylor v. Riojas, SCOTUS held that keeping someone in a sewage-filled prison cell is so obviously unconstitutional that #QualifiedImmunity doesn't apply to state guards.
In Walker v. Hudson, the 8th Cir. held the same conduct by federal guards is shielded by #FederalImmunity.
If you aren't familiar with the gutting of Bivens—aka #FederalImmunity—the courts have held you need a statute to enforce your constitutional rights.
What's left is determined by a test like #QualifiedImmunity on steroids.
Anyhow, here's the 1st Cir.
https://t.co/nXvVupnW4V
More info on how rarely the gov’t files as uninvited cert-stage amicus. It’s only done so a few times this century! But it has twice this year:
1. In Goldey, to extend #FederalImmunity.
2. In Hamm, to make it easier to execute mentally disabled convicts.
https://t.co/USdVVFafy9
The federal gov't has taken the unusual step of filing an uninvited cert-stage amicus in Goldey v. Fields, asking #SCOTUS to expand #FederalImmunity - here, to ensure there's no remedy for excessive force against prison inmates.
I have a lot of thoughts, but here are 5.
1/6
4. My @IJ colleague Anya and I discuss the history and curious relationship between #FederalImmunity & #QualifiedImmunity.
QI was created in a Bivens case.
Ever since, QI has grown; Bivens has shrunk.
There's no way to defend this as anything but judicial policymaking.
5/6
1. Acting SG Sarah Harris was counsel in Egbert v. Boule, where #SCOTUS eviscerated Bivens and enshrined #FederalImmunity as the rule.
According to SCOTUS (and Harris), if Congress doesn't provide a statutory cause of action, you can't enforce your constitutional rights.
2/6
The federal gov't has taken the unusual step of filing an uninvited cert-stage amicus in Goldey v. Fields, asking #SCOTUS to expand #FederalImmunity - here, to ensure there's no remedy for excessive force against prison inmates.
I have a lot of thoughts, but here are 5.
1/6
This is true.
(But #FederalImmunity allows federal officials to violate the Constitution. In curtailing Bivens, SCOTUS laid the problem at Congress’s feet in 2022. Adding 4 words to §1983 would solve this problem.)
TSA shouldn’t get a pass under the Fourth Amendment
No government actor should
Our (@IJ) new paper offers historical proof that #QualifiedImmunity is contrary to the text of §1983.
#SCOTUS recently enshrined #FederalImmunity in Egbert on the theory that it’s up to Congress - not the courts - to allow a damages action.
In §1983, it did. QI takes it away.
ATTN: LAW REVIEWS
My @IJ colleague Daniel Nelson & I have submitted our article "Section 1983 (Still) Displaces Qualified Immunity."
Building on the work of @WilliamBaude & @aar718, we trace the history of #QualifiedImmunity and import of its lost "Notwithstanding Clause." 1/
We need to end #FederalImmunity and extend Section 1983 to cover constitutional violations committed under color of federal law.
There’s no reason why state and local officers should be more accountable to the federal Constitution than federal officers.
The FBI lied to a judge. Ignored the warrant's restrictions. Violated the 4th Am rights of hundreds of people. Tried to forfeit their property without saying why. Lost peoples' life savings and disclaimed any responsibility. And no FBI official has been held to account.
*We shouldn’t need a statutory cause of action, which the Westfall Act confirms. But #SCOTUS says that’s not enough. So Congress should fix this huge constitutional loophole, which provides #FederalImmunity to FBI agents, IRS agents, and everyone between.
https://t.co/KuWqggb9gM
We have a cool new webpage for @IJ's Project on Immunity & Accountability. Launched just 5 years ago to combat doctrines like #QualifiedImmunity and #FederalImmunity, IJ's already litigated dozens of cases across the U.S., incl. 3 at #SCOTUS.
More here:
https://t.co/TPx6OYLvSE
Between #QualifiedImmunity and #FederalImmunity, the FTCA is often the only avenue for claims against federal officers. (See 3d Cir. J. Bibas in Xi.)
But the FTCA is full of loopholes that make it easy for the gov’t to shirk responsibility. It has a whole page of Exceptions: 2/
St. Paul cop Heather Weyker framed @IJ client Hamdi Mohamud and dozens more. Multiple courts noted Weyker's chronic dishonesty, but task-force deputization has shielded her from accountability via #FederalImmunity.
Anya & I (& @RealDarylJames) in @Slate:
https://t.co/Hj5Q21PSnf
🚨Trump to Give Federal Immunity to Police! Good or Bad? 👮🏻♂️👮🍩 #trump #federalimmunity #president #presidenttrump #trump2024 #lawenforcement #bridgethegap #bethechange #qualifiedimmunity #debate #instagramreels
Because Weyker had been cross-deputized, she was wielding both state and federal power. So the girls sued her under Bivens (federal color) and Section 1983 (state color). In Hamdi's case, the 8th Cir. held there was no Bivens remedy-Weyker got #FederalImmunity. BUT: 5/
Three years ago, Anya and I made the same case against #FederalImmunity. At the time, the political context was much different, but the principles were the same. The Constitution either limits federal officials (of all types) or it’s just words on a page:
https://t.co/JY6498thhx
In @NRO, my @IJ colleague Anya and I explain why a deadly ATF raid should spur bipartisan Congressional action to end #FederalImmunity.
Federal officials should be at least as accountable under the Constitution as state officials.
But they aren’t.
Yet.
https://t.co/CKUvymPT1p
… a federal task force means accountable becomes much harder (or impossible). Not only do they get #QualifiedImmunity, but often #FederalImmunity too. In fact, state prosecutors usually can’t even bring criminal charges against federal law enforcement.
https://t.co/SZQLMQdsbw
This is increasingly common and correlated with the Supreme Court’s embrace of #FederalImmunity via restriction of Bivens.
@IJ will be appealing this issue in the 8th Cir. case Mohamud v. Weyker, against a St. Paul cop who framed my client, Hamdi.
https://t.co/SZQLMQdsbw
Case in point... This is one of my cases: Local LEOs raid the wrong house looking for some third party who didn't live there. We sue them. Instead of their actual employer defending them, US Attorneys are defending them and asserting absolute immunity. https://t.co/Ewjqd8A8NL
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