Qualified Immunity Fail

For John, BLUF:  Accountability is important.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"Qualified Immunity"

It is about the qualified immunity issue, and some impolite police.

Here is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry on qualified immunity:

Qualified immunity is a doctrine in United States federal law that arises in cases brought against state officials under 42 U.S.C Section 1983 and against federal officials under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971).  Qualified immunity, when applicable, shields government officials from liability, unless their actions are found to violate an individual's federal constitutional rights.  This grant of immunity is available to state or federal employees performing discretionary functions where their actions, even if later found to be unlawful, did not violate "clearly established law".

Here is the Instapundit blog post in full:

ENDORSED: Every Cop Involved in the Arrest of This Utah Nurse for Refusing to (Illegally) Draw a Patient’s Blood Needs to Be Fired.  “In fact, the claim that this blood draw was part of an ‘investigation’ at all adds another layer of revulsion to Payne’s behavior.  The unconscious man Payne wanted blood from was not suspected of any crime and had done nothing wrong.  He was, in fact, a victim of a crime.”

This is just the latest example of why qualified immunity for law enforcement — an idea with no constitutional foundation, basically made up out of whole cloth by judges — should be abolished.

UPDATE: SLC mayor, police chief apologize for officer who arrested nurse; criminal investigation to follow.

If Black Lives Matter really wanted to do something about issues between police and Blacks it would be mounting a massive campaign to convince Congress to abolish qualified immunity, and not just for police, but also for prosecutors.

I would support Black Lives Matter in such a move.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff